The werewolves of Mibu
by FallenAngelItachi
Summary: In a world where werewolves finally made the declaration they exist fifty years ago, their lives have become hard, living prosecuted or secluded, always feared and treated as unnatural. That is, only if you admit your true nature... Halloween special story! Supernatural Modern day AU in collaboration with legalronin (another avid Saitou x Tokio shipper, go check her out now)
1. The crime

**Disclaimer** : We do not own Rurouni Kenshin or their likeness.

Legalronin here! Hey. Awhile ago FallenAngelItachi sent me a message asking if I would be interested in working together and I was flattered. So here it is, our join project. A Halloween tribute! The idea for this story really was FallenAngelItachi's, I just had the idea for the theme and wrote this chapter.

Thank you to FallenAngelItachi for this opportunity and for her patience. I recently got a job and it's sucking the life out of me so this whole process was a lot slower then I wanted it to be.

Happy Halloween!

I will be back to co-write the final chapter! I hope you enjoy our story.

* * *

The moon hung over the clear and crisp night of October, a silent witness. The night, however, was not silent as a scream tore through the peace.

\- The Crime Scene -

A tall lean man with narrow amber eyes looked up at the moon. In a few days time it would be full, but that didn't matter right now. Saitou shut the car door. Right now Saitou Hajime was a Detective and what did matter was the scene waiting for him just ahead.

"Late night shifts are the worst. I am going to have bags under my eyes for sure."

Saitou turned to his friend and co-worker, Okita Souji. Okita was a good-looking man, shorter then Saitou but that wasn't hard to be, Saitou was above average. Despite the friendship between them they were quite different people. Where Saitou was intimidating and exuded an air of danger, Okita was warm and inviting. He put people at ease. Good cop bad cop if you will.

"Quit your whining." Saitou said.

"Nights are for fun, not work." Okita continued, well aware he was annoying his friend.

"Who says this isn't fun?" Smirked Saitou.

Okita looked at Saitou with mock horror on his face, "Work fun?! We're not all workaholics like you."

Despite his friend's protests Saitou knew Okita loved his job and the thrill of the hunt, predator versus prey. "It must suck to be you because there's work to be done."

"What?" Okita stopped walking, surprised. "It does not suck to be me. I am way better looking!"

Saitou continued to walk towards the center of the commotion. "Tch, too bad you're stupid."

"You're just jealous of my youthful good looks."

The two continued their back and forth, despite the seriousness of the scene around them, walking up to a woman bent over a mess of a corpse.

"Are you two bickering again?" said the woman, not even looking at them, as she stood up and snapped off latex gloves and pushed her glasses to sit on top of her head.

"Tokio-chan," Okita whined out to the woman. "Aren't you bothered to be working so late?"

Tokio looked over at the assistant detective and smiled. "No. I don't mind. It's not like it can be helped."

"There should be laws against this."

Tokio blinked confused, "There are laws against murder."

Saitou groaned, "Don't encourage him." Tokio turned and looked at the man unsure what he meant.

At least she wondered until Okita let out a long-suffering sigh. "There should be laws against working handsome men to the ground. If you and Saitou want to miss out on beauty sleep that's fine but this skin does not stay youthfully fresh on its own you know."

Saitou turned his full attention on Tokio, ignoring Okita who continued to ramble on. "What do you have for me?"

"Headache medicine?" Tokio said.

Saitou's lip twitched into an involuntary smile. "Don't let that good-for-nothing influence you."

Tokio shook her head, it was time for business, "We have a young male, probably early to mid 20s, face completely unrecognizable –"

"Sexy." Okita stated.

Tokio continued, " – he was viciously attacked. He wasn't killed here though."

Saitou surveyed the victim while Tokio spoke. The victim's face was mauled beyond recognition, and despite what should have been a messy crime the area around the body was clean. It would have made any normal person sick but as Detective, Saitou was more than used to it. He ground his teeth, snapped on some gloves, and gingerly studied the corpse.

"Any identification found?"

Tokio came and squatted near Saitou, "Oh plenty. We found some teeth and we can take some fingerprints –"

Saitou gave the forensic scientist a flat look, "You know what I meant. Wallet? ID?"

"No, and try and be more specific next time Detective. I don't read minds." Saitou raised an eyebrow and Tokio saw that right now was not the time for games. She continued on, "The perp took a lot of care to keep his tracks clean no footprints, no tire marks, nothing."

Saitou asked, "How long has he been dead?"

"A few hours at most. Still fresh."

Okita looked around, "This is a fairly deserted area. It wouldn't be hard to go unnoticed and dump a body here."

"Ah" Saitou said, his mind working fast. He turned to Okita, "Witness?"

"Nah, well the woman that found the body." Okita said.

Saitou thought it over, "Let's go talk to her. Then I want to walk around the area."

"You got it boss."

Saitou looked up at the building and frowned. This was no random attack.

\- At the Station –

Tokio watched as Saitou and Okita walked into the forensics lab. As soon as they walked in Saitou frowned and Okita's nose twitched. It made her smile. "Something wrong gentlemen?"

"Gentlemen?" Saitou smirked. "You're half right."

"That's right Tokio-chan." Okita nodded, sharing a look with Saitou, "That one over there is actually a wolf in human's clothing!"

Tokio laughed, "Does that mean you're hairy Saitou-san?"

Okita whooped with laughter, "I think she wants to see you shirtless!"

Saitou grinned, sometimes this was all too easy, and in a low rumble he asked, "Is that so?" Then moving in a little closer, he could smell her hair it was refreshing especially in a room where death and chemicals hung in the air, "That's hardly appropriate for work."

Okita crossed his arms and nodded, "True, True. Tokio-chan you should stop imaging Saitou without his shirt on. We have work to do."

Tokio blinked before turning bright red, "That's not what I meant at all!" She then walked away from Saitou. "S-s-so I found something interesting."

Saitou chuckled and Okita's snickering quieted down.

Tokio stiffened as Saitou came to stand next to her; she kept her eyes on the victim, unable to look at him. "Your victim shot himself in the foot."

Saitou took a look at the victim's right foot, where there was indeed a bullet wound. "During the struggle or just an inexperienced mistake."

"Odd. The corpse looked so clean." Said Okita.

"The perp wouldn't have wanted to touch this particular bullet." Tokio said as she held up the bullet in question. "It's silver."

Saitou and Okita muttered "Werewolf" at the same time.

"Right. If it wasn't obvious before, I also found hair stuck under our victim's nails and they came back as belonging to a were." Tokio placed her glasses on the end of her nose and showed them the victim's hands.

Okita scratched behind his ear, "Okay, who's our faceless friend then?"

"No friend of ours." Saitou growled. "He was anti-were activist."

Tokio nodded, "I ran his fingerprints through the system and got a hit. It's just as Saitou-san said. Sato right there, was very active against weres."

"Ah." Saitou crossed his arms. "Our victim was sought out and his body left as a message."

Okita's mouth rounded out as he said, "Oh. So that building really was where they held their" here Okita threw up some air quotes, "secret meetings."

Saitou nodded. "This isn't the first attack and it won't be the last."

Tokio sighed. "The hate continues." And all three nodded.

Despite their co-existence weres, as in werewolves, and humans were hardly given equal rights. Weres registered upon birth and the great majority lived in secluded communities, on the outskirts of society. Shunned. There were few that hid their status in order to lead "normal lives" amongst humans but that was not the norm.

Crimes against humans by weres, and vice versa, were not uncommon. This was just another hate crime.

-Saitou's Office -

Saitou dropped into his chair and rubbed his eyes with the palm of his hand. "Nothing." He ground out.

He let his hands drop onto the armrests of his chair, turning so he could look at the board by his desk. The board was covered in notes, pictures, times, and a map. It was how Saitou organized his thoughts but it was of little help right now.

"Black coffee for the black-hearted Detective." Okita placed Saitou's coffee on the desk. He took a seat across from Saitou, taking a sip of his own coffee and said, "Sweet and delicious coffee for the best Detective."

"Assistant." Saitou corrected taking his coffee in hand. "That's not even coffee, it's coffee flavored sugar."

"It's my own special mix of chocolate and coffee and it's delicious."

"The smell alone can rot teeth."

Okita shrugged and continued to drink. The two drank in silence for a few minutes, looking and thinking over the case.

Okita broke the silence, "How'd it go with the family?"

Saitou glared and ground his back teeth before saying, "Not a single threat, nothing suspicious. Our perp wanted it to look random."

"Maybe it was . . . he'll mess up sooner or later."

"Four victims, all anti-were activists, and all moved from where the initial crime occurred. We still don't know where that is."

Okita nodded, "And all found outside of some building linked with the anti-were movement."

"Ah." Saitou blew air out his nose. "The attacks have occurred once a month, just before the full moon."

"I hate the waiting game. So what do we do until next month? How do we stop the next attack?"

Saitou said nothing. They had nothing. They had officers searching the surrounding areas where the bodies were found but so far they hadn't been able to determine where the victims had actually been killed.

Okita sighed, "We don't even know if it's a rogue were or a pack."

At that moment, someone knocked, Tokio peeked before walking in, "You're still here? You should get something to eat." The atmosphere changed suddenly with Tokio's arrival.

Saitou and Okita looked at one another, too easy.

"You're right Tokio-chan, I am hungry like the wolf." Okita said.

Saitou smirked, looking Tokio up and down, "And you look delicious." Tokio rolled her eyes, blushing, causing Saitou to say, "You should know better then to walk into a wolf's den."

Tokio let out a long-suffering sigh, "You two and your pathetic jokes. I brought you the final autopsy report and some good news –"

"Finally good news!"

"Shut up and let her talk."

Tokio rolled her eyes again, "You're looking for a werewolf." Tokio raised her hand to keep them from saying something smart and gave them a flat look, "As in one werewolf, not a pack. All the victims were killed by the same wolf."

"Are you sure?" Saitou asked.

"Yea, how do you know?" asked Okita.

Tokio placed her hands on her hips and glared at the men, "Because I know how to do my job?"

Saitou raised an eyebrow and with a smirk said, "Then do your job and explain."

Tokio and Saitou stared at each other, silently willing the other to look away. It was Tokio that looked away first. "The teeth markings are the same. In each victim your murderer left behind a bite mark and the mark is consistent in all four victims"

Okita looked impressed. "Wow. I didn't notice any bite marks."

"That's why it's her job." Before Tokio or Okita could respond, Saitou's phone began to ring. He looked at the caller-id before picking it up, answering it with some annoyance.

Okita walked over to Tokio and whispered, "I think it's his intended."

Tokio whispered back, "Intended? You mean fiancé?"

"Nope. Intended. She intends to marry him no matter what."

"What about Saitou-san?"

"Will you shut up?" Saitou snapped out.

"Yep. It's Yaso." Okita said.

\- At a café, as luck would have it, not too far from the Police Station -

"Did you hear?"

"Hear what?"

"There was another werewolf attack!"

The man heard the woman gasp and the women lowered their voices, casting cautious glances his way. It was no good though; the man could still hear them and their words just aggravated him.

"But how? It's not even a full moon! And you know what I don't get? Is why not turn people, why kill them?"

"You watch too many movies! Werewolves can turn wolf whenever and I don't think they can turn humans. Why would they want to anyways? They're beasts."

The man crushed his newspaper in his hands, the women turned to look at him before huddling closer together, their opinion wasn't unusual and it was an opinion that kept him from finding a decent job, and brought forth oppressive laws. Laws that required every werewolf to register upon birth and live in secluded communities away from humans. It was infuriating. These humans knew so little about his kind but they labeled werewolves beasts and monsters. Ignorance. It was all ignorance. They were the real monsters.

He flicked his eyes up to look at the women, and saw their disgust as they continued to discuss werewolves. His hands trembled in anger.

The women got up and left the shop, going their own ways. After a short pause the man left his table following behind one of the women. It was a bit early but why should he wait until next month? He was angry and someone should pay.

\- At the station -

"Ah." Tokio stretched her arms above her head and arched her back, she heard her back pop. She let her arms drop and said to herself, "I need a hot bath."

"Tokio-chan" sing songed a familiar voice.

Turning towards the man Tokio said, "Okita-san, you're still here?"

Okita placed a hand over his heart and in mock despair said, "I am always working late. Saitou works this poor man to the bone."

Tokio laughed, "It's unnatural to see you without your other half." Then after a moment's pause she said, "I think you're actually less funny without him."

Okita blinked, his face emotionless, "That's just mean." His face broke into a smile when Tokio laughed. "I'll walk you to the train station."

"You don't have to do that." The train station wasn't too far from work and the walk combined with the night air always helped clear Tokio's mind of the day's work.

"It's alright. I'd like the company." Then in a whisper, "Saitou would never forgive me if something happened to you."

Tokio turned to look at him as they began walking out together, "Did you say something?"

Okita smiled at Tokio, "Nothing."

The two set off towards the train station, talking casually trying to leave the day behind them. It had been a long day, with a very unsatisfying end. And there was nothing they could do.

Okita stopped suddenly and turned his head slightly to the right, his ears gave a slight twitch.

"Okita-san?" Tokio stopped and looked at him. "Is something wrong?"

Tokio didn't have to wonder for long though, an ear-splitting scream caused both people to wince. It had been a woman. Tokio's head snapped towards the sound and despite her sense of self-preservation Tokio ran, she ran towards the scream.

"TOKIO!" Okita shouted and he too took off, quickly outrunning her. "Go back to the station! Call Saitou!" He shouted back at her.

"Okita! No!" Tokio tried to keep up with the assistant-detective but there was no way. Even as the frequent runner that she was. She placed her hands on her knees and tried to catch her breath. She had no idea how he could run so fast.

"H-h-elp . . ."

Tokio looked up, not too far up ahead a woman clung to the wall, she was favouring her left leg and covered in blood. Invigorated, Tokio ran up to the woman and grabbed ahold of her. The woman let herself fall against Tokio.

"I'll get you to the station and I'll take a look at you. Can you walk? I can't do this alone." Tokio said. The woman barely nodded.

As they started walking back towards the station, Tokio turned to look in the direction Okita had run off too. Just then she heard a wolf's howl. The woman shuddered and Tokio hoped Okita was ok.

\- At the hospital -

Saitou ran through the halls ignoring the annoyed nurses. He slowed down as he saw a familiar woman pacing the waiting room. "Tokio!"

"Saitou-san!" Tokio let out a relieved sigh, "Some of her injuries were too deep for me to handle so I brought her here."

Saitou took in her appearance, Tokio's clothes were smeared in blood and her ever-present glasses were missing from the top of her head. He frowned; he didn't like the smell of blood on her. "It's fine. You did the right thing."

Tokio nodded and proceeded to give Saitou a detailed account of the evening. Saitou gave nothing away but Tokio had known him for long enough to notice the slight tensing of the jaw. He was worried.

Saitou placed his hand on Tokio's head, "Don't worry about that idiot. Okita can take care of himself. May I speak with our victim?"

Tokio gave Saitou a flat look from under his arm; the man couldn't even admit he was worried. "You can go speak to her."

Saitou nodded and knocked on the victim's door before entering. Tokio's shoulders slumped and she let herself fall into a chair. What a night.

Not long afterwards Saitou re-emerged from the room, deep in thought. Tokio watched him for a while before saying, "I brought you coffee."

Saitou took a seat beside her, taking the cup. "Thank you. You should go home."

"And leave you alone?" Tokio raised an eyebrow, silently challenging the detective. "You might do something stupid."

Saitou glared, "Don't be cute."

"I can't believe you said cute. It sounds so unnatural coming from you."

Saitou sighed. "If you don't plan on leaving then you can make yourself useful."

"I brought you coffee."

"Yes but you didn't bring me anything to eat."

"You just had dinner!"

Saitou ignored that and asked, "Did you get a chance to study her wounds? Are we dealing with the same were?"

"Of course. I did." Tokio took her camera out and began to show Saitou pictures, "I brought the camera from the lab just before we headed out here. But I want to compare them with our deceased before I come to any conclusion."

"Ah." Saitou stood. "Let's go then. "

Tokio blinked, watching him walk ahead, then grabbing her purse she ran after Saitou, "Wait for me!"

The ride back to the station was a silent and tense one. Tokio had never seen Saitou so out of sorts and it scared her. She cleared her throat, "What did she say?"

Saitou glanced at Tokio before focusing on the road again, smirking, "Thinking of joining the force?"

Tokio lifted her chin, "And what if I am? I think I can handle it."

"I don't doubt it." From Saitou it was high praise indeed and he was glad to see the stunned look on Tokio's face as he said. "I'd take you on as my partner."

Tokio snapped her mouth shut. She hadn't realized she had been staring with her mouth wide open. She sat back in her seat and crossed her arms, "Please, you and Okita are quite the double act. There's no replacing him." Her eyes widened and she stilled, she really stuck her foot in it this time.

Saitou's hands tightened around the steering wheel and his face darkened.

"I . . . am sorry." Tokio said. "I am sure he's fine."

Saitou nodded stiffly. That fool, he bitterly thought to himself. "Our victim only ever saw the wolf, never the man. She realized someone was following her and took off towards the station, that by chance happened to be near, and our perp ran her down."

Tokio bit her lip, unsure what to say, finally deciding to keep it on business. "If it's the same Were, why would he break the routine?"

"It's hard to say."

Saitou said no more after that and Tokio too fell silent. She looked at her watch. Five hours since she found the victim, five since Okita took off. Please be okay, she thought to herself.

They finally arrived at the station. Saitou stepped out of the car, shutting the door with more force than necessary and made his way around to open Tokio's door. Tokio blinked, surprised by the act, she had been far too lost in her thoughts to even realize they had arrived. She stepped out of the car, a little self-conscious.

Saitou wouldn't look at her though; he was looking away, listening intently. Without even realizing it, a low growl escaped him, as he said, "Tokio. Go home."

Tokio looked up at him, "What?"

He finally looked at her, "Go home. You can analyze everything tomorrow."

Tokio didn't have a chance to respond because he suddenly took off running, after something she couldn't hear. She stood there for a few seconds, before taking off after him, shouting. "Saitou! Wait!"

Damn he's fast, Tokio thought. She could barely keep up as she followed him down narrow alleys, and back streets. She was so focused on keeping an eye on him that she lost all sense of direction and now she had no idea where they were or where they were going.

Saitou turned a corner and Tokio sped up; this was her chance to catch up! However, it was a dead end. She came to an abrupt halt and looked around, confused. Saitou was nowhere to be seen. Where had he gone off to?

Fifteen minutes later and Tokio was still wandering about, alone and completely lost. A wolf howled causing Tokio to take a step backwards, stepping on something with a definitive crunch. She picked up her foot, groaning at what she saw. "Great." She said full of sarcasm. "I found my glasses and I broke them. What terrible luck."

"Wait! This means I am not too far from the station, I am near where Okita took off . . ." Tokio stopped talking, partly because it was odd to be talking to herself and secondly because she suddenly heard the sound of paws hitting pavement. She felt it before she saw anything; a chill ran down her spine, and her hair stood on end.

Tokio didn't turn around or wait to see if there really was a Werewolf behind her, she ran. Tokio ran as fast as she could for the third time that night. Fear spurred her tired limbs on but she was no match for the fully grown Werewolf and she dove into an empty parking garage, tired, and worn out.

She inspected her surroundings, frantically looking for somewhere to hide. But it was too late, the Werewolf came into view snarling, eyes gleaming dangerously, and covered in blood. The Were bared his teeth and inched himself towards Tokio, enjoying himself. Tokio backed up until she hit the wall, silently cursing. Of course she would get stuck in a classic movie move.

"What do you want?!" Tokio shouted at the Were. "Where's Okita!?"

The Were howled and Tokio pressed herself against the wall. Damn it all. She glanced around wondering if she would be able to run around the wolf. Suddenly Tokio got her chance, the Were turned towards the exit, ears perking, growling dangerously. Tokio took her chance and sprinted as far away as she could.

Saitou entered the parking garage at a full sprint, "TOKIO!"

Damn that woman. He told her to go home but here she was. He wasn't angry at her, at least not for the sake of it. He was afraid about what could happen to her. His eyes finally locked onto the Were and that's when he noticed the blood. Blood that didn't smell human, it could only be from one person, one stupid werewolf, and suddenly a deep and profound anger overwhelmed him. Everything went black. He charged towards the werewolf with an inhuman yell.

Tokio saw Saitou charge towards the Werewolf and she ran towards Saitou, screaming, "HAJIME!" She had expected the Were to chase her down but instead the Were lunged at Saitou. Tokio screamed with everything she had. "HAJIME! HAJIME!"

But suddenly she stopped screaming, and she stopped running. She stood there in the parking garage with wide eyes and her mouth slightly agape. Something was happening that shouldn't be happening. Saitou was no longer Saitou, his body shifted and morphed. It was the most amazing thing Tokio had ever seen, drinking all of it in, too afraid to blink. There was no way to describe it but there he was, a werewolf, larger than the average wolf with dark fur and striking amber eyes. He really was a hairy beast, she thought. Those fools had been playing games with her.

Tokio was no longer able to shout out, all she could do was watch as Saitou the werewolf lunged at the other. The two Weres were growling, teeth snapping, grabbing onto whatever they could. Saitou's jaw locked onto the other Were's throat causing the Were to whimper out and flay about as much as he could. Saitou however was merciless and he tightened his grip.

"SAITOU!"

Tokio's head turned slowly up, towards the voice; it was Okita...

* * *

 **A/N** : Fallen here! Yay, first chapter is out! I'll be putting out the second one in like an hour. Be patient for the third one. Review if ya liked it, drop a line and say what you found adorable or what irked you. Have fun with out Halloween special coz I sure as hell do.


	2. The clan

**A/N** : F_A_I here lovelies, and here comes chapter two, as promised!

Many many thanks to **legalronin** for making this a reality; if it weren't for her, this would have never been written, not really. She's awesome and sweet and you should totally check out her works, if you like this one.

She will be back for the third chapter and so will I. Till then, have fun dears.

* * *

At first, Saitou was relieved when Tokio told him that Okita had gone after the werewolf.

As time passed, Saitou would tell himself over and over again that Okita was a strong werewolf himself, maybe stronger than him. And what with the full moon only hours away, he knew there were few things more lethal than his friend. Then why was it he felt so uneasy? Why was it that with each passing minute, his stomach gave out a warning in the form of clutching and twisting and turning? Why was it sinking, along with his heart? Was it intuition?

That had to be it, he realised with dread, for he had never worried like this before. So if it was intuition didn't that mean something bad was going to happen to him? What if it already had? Dark thoughts plagued his mind while he drove to the hospital; after the witness's account, they only became worse. And while he was driving Tokio to the station, he felt something go off inside him, an alarm.

But what drove him nearly crazy was the scent. He had barely parked his car when he caught it in the air. The werewolf he was looking for was near. But the other werewolf, the one supposedly chasing him, was nowhere to be found. All the alarm bells went off.

He had to catch this man and make him spit _every single thing_.

His body followed his will perfectly and he took off running in the direction the air indicated the perp was. He had broken into a full blown sprint by now and he ran and ran with his nose and his ears to lead him. It wasn't all that difficult, because the asshole didn't even bother with stealth—what the hell was he trying to pull? If Okita was well and still hot on his trail, this asshole should be terrified! It only added to his worry and anger, Saitou moved even faster, making his own breath hitch a little. He had never employed this sort of speed before in his life.

But then he finally caught a glimpse of him. That fucker was running...towards Tokio! Saitou could practically hear her, too!

Why the hell had she gone after him, knowing full well he was going after a werewolf!? No time to be angry at her now; he needed to save her. Saitou pushed himself beyond his previous superhuman speed that now felt slow, the surroundings became nothing but a blur!

He found himself entering a parking garage. And there they were! Everything went into "protect" mode and he found himself shouting "TOKIO!" before he could react any other way. She called back...but his name on her lips sounded as if from a distance. It all happened so fast; he picked up Okita's scent; but it wasn't strong enough to indicate he was around. He noticed the blood on the prep's hands. He knew it wasn't human—it was that idiot's.

His heart ached; his mind boggled. How could this lowlife, this pathetic transformation, beat his best friend? How!? But it didn't matter because in the end, it was all the same; he would pay.

He killed Okita, his mind told him venomously, and he should pay; he tried to attack Tokio, it continued, and he should pay; this man hurt everything you hold close, it finished, and he deserves to die.

That was it. Something finally broke. He saw red and then everything went black. He had no control of his own body anymore, his mind was gone. It was replaced by fear, sorrow and fury! All he could feel, see or taste was regret; regret in the form of fond memories of his friend replaying in his mind like a broken record. Memories from childhood, early adulthood, last year...but then something broke the record-player.

His mind had gone off elsewhere, playing a mild soundtrack to go with his life's movie; but his body was going on a bloody rampage! He snarled as he attacked the man, receiving only a lacklustre wound on the chest before his own claws connected with the assailant's face! Easily being forced to the ground, fangs found neck in a second and Saitou's jaws started applying deadly pressure, as relentless as a vice.

A voice; it was a familiar voice, it called out to him. It was his name. Saitou it repeated pleadingly, and his consciousness felt electrified again. Something as instinctive as his rage told him he should calm down; the voice was familiar. The voice was...Okita's...but if he heard his voice that meant he was alive.

The darkness started dissolving and the memory of his friend was replaced by the real thing. Okita's usually smiling features were now worried; Saitou blinked what felt like a hundred times, but it was only once or twice. He watched the entire body of his friend form solidly and then so did his own. He was sitting down on the floor, in front of the bloodied body of their perpetrator with the man's blood smeared all over him. He hadn't looked down but he could tell. He tasted the metal in his mouth and he could feel the wetness on his hands.

"Saitou, you're back." Okita literally deflated from the worry and fell down next to him. "You scared the hell out of me, man, I feared you'd kill him. But you didn't."

The last part was spoken with a smile. "You're strong in more ways than one."

"You're...whole." was all Saitou noticed with relief.

Of course now came the shame and it was nearly paralysing. Okita looked pretty much a picture of physical health except for a big already healing claw mark on his chest. He looked where Saitou was looking but simply waved him off.

"The bastard got me when he pretended to be giving up and I tried to handcuff him. He's been running ever since and I've been trying my best to catch up but he just kept getting away...! Which is also why I didn't report at all. I kept trying to corner him thus I turned off all electronics because-"

"They can give away your position, of course." Of course; that's why he didn't answer his phone. How could he have been so stupid? Some detective he was...!

"I'm sorry for bringing you to this."

"It's not your fault; it's mine." Forget about it, his tone said, I'm the idiot here.

Finally, Okita allowed himself to smile a little teasingly. "Who would have thought you'd go into a frenzy for little old me, though?" Ah, here it was. "The great Saitou Hajime, losing it because of little Okita Souji."

Here was what Saitou hated to admit: he actually cared about people, most of all his self-proclaimed best friend. He rolled his eyes, "yes, you can brag for another ten seconds," was all he said, very flatly.

He deserved the ten seconds, but nothing more. Saitou had his shame to consider; shame he went into frenzy in the first place. It was an ordinary thing for werewolves—other werewolves. Not him. He hadn't gone into a frenzy since he witnessed his entire family murdered, twenty years ago! No matter if the others praised it when it happened twice a year, he found nothing flattering in the concept of quite literally losing your shit. Why would that be rewarded within the clan? It was a childish relic of the past, an immature feud.

"But man, Yaso will have a field day with this. She'll brag about it to no end, as if it was her who made it happen."

"...you have to remind me? I know perfectly well how self-centred and opportunist she is."

"Yes but it isn't fair! The whole clan is going to pat her on the back for something she wasn't even there to witness—as if she was the one who caused it. As if!"

"Okita, are you annoyed she'll try to manipulate people and the situation to her benefit or that it won't be known it was you whom I went in a frenzy for...?"

"Both?" he asked innocently.

Saitou shook his head disappointed. "You were the main factor but not the only one, so don't flatter yourself."

"Oh I know; poor cute Tokio-san is still in Lunacy, right over there, yet otherwise perfectly healthy and unharmed." He pointed with his thumb where Tokio sat gawking, looking equally lost at the lot of them. "Such poor taste, to transform in front of her." he continued, shaking his head and clicking his tongue.

Saitou glared. "I didn't do it willingly."

"Yes but now she will have a pretty big memory gap and how will you explain to her she was there a moment ago and then it's morning?"

"...that's the least of our problems. Kondo and Yaso will be over the moon, but Hijikata won't take it well at all. Remember why we were chosen?"

"Yes, I remember...but this is your very first strike ever; I get scolded by Hijikata-san at least twice a week!"

"He expects more of you."

"No; I just disappoint him more often." they shared a small smile but Okita's was gone sooner than expected. "Ugh, I still can't wrap my head around how convenient this will be for Yaso and it's driving me nu-!"

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT!?"

Both men turned to the source of the sound, beyond surprised. Tokio was still sitting up on the floor, but now she was focused. She was glaring...at them. She was glaring at them! How in earth...? Were they seeing things? Did they imagine it? But they couldn't both imagine the same thing, so that only meant it was real. Tokio was really glaring, feeling something between offended, shocked and indignant! Now she was slowly rising to her feet, a task that proved difficult with all the remaining adrenaline in her body, and kept accusing them flabbergasted.

"Instead of explaining things to me, asking, no, begging for my understanding, you sit there talking about Yaso and some other people? Tell me what the hell is going on right now or I'll march over there and...and...smack you with a silver plate or something! Speak!"

But their reactions were far from apologetic; they still didn't even address her. All they did was look at one another, shocked beyond belief. A silent understanding passed between them and after a curt nod was shared, one that drove Tokio mad, they both rose to their feet. Each in awe of the other, they approached the woman. Despite all she saw and found out today, she wasn't scared of them, and instead of taking two or three steps back, she simply crossed her arms and waited.

It was Okita who started. "Tokio, you...can understand us..."

"The hell do you mean? Of course I can understand you; we're still speaking the same language! Someone please explain right this minute!"

Saitou took it upon himself to do just that and cleared his throat. "...As you might have guessed, we are werewolves."

Her eyes and her entire demeanour screamed the most sarcastic and angry _oh really_ in the history of mankind. But he soldiered on, without his usual snide or sarcastic remarks, seeing the situation called for a milder approach.

"Throughout history, whenever werewolves transformed in front of humans, humans wouldn't remember. Like temporary memory loss mixed with temporary insanity, they lose all sense of self and simply act on their base instincts – mostly of survival – and run away; some just faint or flail. Anyway, it happens only when a werewolf transforms in front of a human. We call it Lunacy—and it affects nearly all humans."

"But it didn't it affect me! Why should I believe-?"

"That's a very interesting observation." Was Saitou's first sardonic response but after Okita's not so subtle elbow thrust, he continued seriously.

"Nature wisely chose to make humans unable to remember who transformed because, as you already know, humans for the most part are dangerously small minded. To stop the witch hunt, nature gave us a weapon. But just like regular humans, werewolves too can be petty and cruel." He kicked the perp bleeding on the floor, without a shred of remorse. Distantly, Tokio noticed the biggest, ugliest part of the wound was already healing. "So, nature gave the humans a fail-safe; some very rare and very few in between, could get through it without succumbing to lunacy."

He stopped to allow her time to absorb everything. "You, Tokio, are one of those humans."

She stared for a long time. "You're messing with me, aren't you?"

"Not at all, Tokio-chan. In fact, if this was five hundred years ago, you'd make an excellent werewolf hunter!"

Saitou rolled his eyes at his friend's words. He had to bring it up…now Tokio was staring wide eyed, waiting for yet another explanation. "Back in the day, old enough for humans to know of our existence before we came out again yet modern enough to have formed societies, the very few humans who basically didn't catch Lunacy would form guilds to hunt werewolves; some were working with werewolves and their clans, to keep the majority of the werewolves safe."

Saitou stopped to smirk. "I guess I was right; you'd make an excellent partner after all."

Her surprise turned to shame and her cheeks pink! "I-I-I see…and if I believe you're telling me the truth what is this frenzy I heard you talk about? Is that why you transformed? And how can somebody take advantage of it?"

Saitou looked very angry in that moment, but she noticed it wasn't directed at her but at himself. He gave a low growl as he tried to speak but instead of words, only sounds came out.

Okita took that as his cue. "Werewolves are…sentimental creatures." He found the right word in the end, hand on chin. "One of the reasons the vampires and us have such a long history of feuding, which always gets misinterpreted as a war but except for the 100-year-war we never really-!"

"To the point, Okita." Saitou growled again but this once it came out less wolfish.

"One of the reasons we feud is because vampires are naturally cold and very cold-blooded. We are kind of opposites. So when something very bad happens to us, or we are in human form and we have received too much damage from an enemy, or when we feel something too strongly, it happens. We have no control over it, it's a survival instinct. We transform to heal—either physically or mentally. It's a common thing but it happens just three or four times a year. Any more than that, it's irresponsible. Any less than that and you're suddenly the clan's cold one."

She turned to Saitou trying to make sense of things. "So this has happened to you before?" He wasn't acting like it though.

"This is the second time in my entire life."

Oh. In his clan, Saitou must have been the cold one, hence the derision from Okita when he spoke the term. The vulnerability in his plain tone of voice was almost tangible too, and somehow she felt her heart ache. It wasn't fair she got to see him like this and not be able to do something about it. Then again, she was feeling protective of someone who could easily rip another grown werewolf to shreds, as she just witnessed, so the irony didn't escape her.

"And it's still one too many," he snapped in the end in his usual manner.

Good; at least he wasn't feeling too bad about it. She wanted to ask about the first time, but decided against it. "I see…" There was a small pause. "How come you weren't raised in the pack? I mean, I've met a couple of werewolves and they are all either made or simply prefer to live in the special-."

"When I was born, the registry had just been put into practise," Okita informed her "so it was easy for one or two werewolf children to go unnoticed. Saito simply never registered. And from us few who weren't formally werewolves in the eyes of the government, many of us were hand-picked by the Alpha a long time ago, to be raised as humans, in human society. Strong ties to our community remained, but we lived with all the other humans. And it showed, because we…were sort of different from the rest. But just a little." He chuckled. "But we're still pack animals and we like the companionship so Saito and I live in the same apartment! Of course that makes it hard to bring women back to the house-"

He received a death-glare from Saitou at that point so he stopped talking, obviously amused by his own antics, especially since Tokio didn't seem to mind. "What clan are you from?"

"Mibu clan." Saitou answered curtly-maybe a little too much.

"I don't know of it…"

"Which is why I told you."

She was about to be offended once more, but Saitou continued, pushing his hair back exasperated. "It's better if you don't know much. You weren't affected by Lunacy, so now the Alpha must be made aware of your presence and your simple existence is a liability to the clan. I am not saying we're gonna do anything to you, of course," he said it with such conviction she couldn't help but feel safe – and it made sense, for the _I'd like to see them try_ line was silent, simply conveyed through his eyes, but very much there – "but the less you know, the more favourably the Alpha is going to look at you."

"Who's the Alpha?"

"It's Kondo-san!"

"Did either of you hear a word of what I said?"

"Sorry, curiosity is in my nature…"

"Forgive me," Okita started innocently enough "I just have a soft spot for Tokio-chan!"

She giggled and Saitou could have killed him, if his glare was any indication. She made an interesting observation then: he spoke mostly through his eyes and actions. Rarely did he say anything that wasn't absolutely necessary.

"So did anyone call the precinct to come pick this man up?" Her expression was suddenly all business and she was thinking about a million things that had to do with the case. "We must take a sample of his hair and then compare his bite to the victims' to make sure it's him. If we prove these two things, he goes in for life, or even gets the death penalty."

"I'll do it! We're close to the station anyway."

Okita immediately took out his phone, dialling the number. "We have to make sure he's secured till they come with the silver bindings. He's still alive and he's already healing. I wouldn't want him to be fine by the time the rest get here."

Saitou simply stuck his hand in the man's wound, opening it once more, making the still unconscious man moan from the pain; Tokio cringed. "Don't" Saitou cut in "you said it yourself: he has to remain incapacitated."

"It's still sort of brutal."

"…we are werewolves."

"Fair point…"

Yet somehow, the look he was giving her coupled with that phrase held a warning. This is how we are; we are brutal and honest and heal really fast. We are werewolves, and it came with all the political and social consequences, he seemed to say. For what it was worth, she still liked them. In fact, it only made sense—instead of confusing her, it simply explained their character. She sighed.

But then she had an epiphany. "You are right! You are werewolves!"

"Yes…"

"No, you don't understand—you are werewolves, you're **all** werewolves! Prep included!"

"Can you keep it down Tokio-san? I don't want the whole precinct to know." Okita snapped, covering the microphone of his cell.

"Sorry about that but, don't you get it? He's a werewolf—he doesn't have Lunacy! What's stopping him from spilling the beans?"

Both men finally realised what she was talking about. She wouldn't tell on them. But the very sour, very bitter, very much hurt and captured unconscious werewolf at their feet had no reason not to rat them out. If anything, why wouldn't he? He got arrested because of them! And if he could, in the process, ruin two werewolves that he no doubt considered traitors to his kind, what's there to stop him? Both men turned white.

Okita finished his call and turned to them, nearly robotic. "We have three minutes till they get here…"

"Okay, I have an idea but it will be kind of dangerous." They both looked at the woman curious. "Dangerous for our jobs that is; if they catch us we're all kind of fired."

"Go on."

"I can give him some hallucinogens before he wakes up and pretend I have Lunacy. Once you spoke of temporary memory loss, I remembered a guy in a crime scene who looked too disoriented after he witnessed a werewolf fight so now I know it's real and how to act like it. So I act like I was affected by Lunacy, you guys rip up your clothes a little and pretend you just witnessed another werewolf fight; maybe thrash one another to make it look believable. Even if he does point to Saitou and say he transformed, Okita will back you up, saying he confused one with the other because of the drugs. My own state of confusion will help making it realistic because after all I was the first one here and I did witness a transformation so the less lies we tell, the easier it will be to be believable."

"Tokio-san, you're brilliant!"

She smiled modestly at the compliment.

Despite not being the one to tell her, Saitou thought the exact same thing. He felt proud of her, too, in some weird way. After all, if nothing else, this showed she cared about them. She wanted them to remain at the precinct. She…liked them. And if she just devised a way to keep them safe that implicated herself, and she was the one to think of the fact there was another liability, it only made her position better for when they'd have to confront Kondo. Quick to think on her feet, obviously smart and extremely tolerant—who wouldn't want an ally such as her?

"I have some strong enough drugs to work on a werewolf at the lab which I can replace before anyone even gets suspicious. So! I'm going to a corner and start practising my crazy look you guys hurry."

They needn't telling twice! They flung each other against the place, against cars and walls, ripped their clothes in the process and purposefully made themselves bleed in easy to spot places. They abused the perp-gone-victim once more and they punched each other one last time. Okita's blow sent Saitou flying into a car and he pretended to be too sore to move, staying lodged on the car's now bent doors.

"Thank god you're here!" Okita exclaimed the moment he saw his colleagues. "Arrest this werewolf! And you, go to Tokio; she seems very confused but otherwise unhurt. And the other team come help me with Saitou! He looks pretty beaten up. I worry about his back."

Had they been ten seconds slower, their fellow police officers would have found an incomplete staged crime scene; but they managed and it all went well. Their superhuman senses helped with determining the distance correctly.

"Take Tokio to her lab to calm down; seeing familiar things will definitely help," Okita instructed once they made sure she was healthy and Saitou hadn't broken his back. "I'll go with the perp because I witnessed the whole thing so I'll interrogate him once he wakes up. Saitou are you okay to move on your own?"

"I think so."

"Then go keep an eye on Tokio; call me once she snaps out of…whatever this is."

"I still outrank you, you know, stop giving orders." Okita smiled sheepishly as Saitou rose to his feet. "But you aren't wrong. I'll see if I can get anything out of Tokio, too and whoever comes to first, calls the other. Also, this sort of reaction Tokio is having isn't a first; I've seen plenty of people react this way once they witness a werewolf transform and I believe that's what happened."

"Detective Saitou is right sir; I have run into people looking like this once they witnessed a werewolf transform," the deputy corroborated. Man, this was all too easy. "We should take my car, detective."

He nodded as he took hold of the supposedly delirious woman. "You drive."

The plan worked just fine; once in the lab, one of the places without any cameras, she was quick to recover and unearth the drugs she was looking for. They took an extra ten-minute window to pretend she was still coping and since Okita hadn't come for them, it meant the werewolf hadn't woken up yet.

"You must have been very lethal," was all Tokio said. Of course, he couldn't tell her – as much as he wanted to brag about it – that he may be one of the strongest werewolves in Japan for that would lead to more questions and he really didn't want to put her in a bad position. Still, he had smirked and remained silent, making her crazy.

They gave the perp the drugs with the pretext of trying to jostle him awake, so none complained. If he were a human he would have probably ODed by the mixture of adrenaline with all the rest, but being the sturdy werewolf he was, he barely cracked an eye open.

.

The interrogation went pretty much as expected: Sugita, the were-perp, pointed at Saitou with both fingers, saying he was a werewolf and it was him that nearly killed him. Okita shook his head and told him "what are you on anyway" and proceeded to explain to the wolf how when he had come to the crime scene Saitou was already out of commission, stuck in that car and how another werewolf, probably one who disliked werewolves getting a bad name as a whole, had probably tracked him down and beat the living shit out of him.

Sugita protested, saying how he watched him transform; and not just him, another person did, a human woman! But when Tokio was brought in all she did was point her finger at Sugita, lamenting how she was almost mauled to death by him. And when Saitou came to protect her, he was thrown like a rag doll all the way across the parking lot. And then a man she didn't know and could not for the life of her remember, came bounding in, eyes blazing and…transformed into a werewolf. After that, she can't recall a thing.

What with all the consistent wounds Saitou still sported – and he had to refresh at the bathroom every ten minutes– and the air-tight similar testimonies of the tree police workers and how they found drugs in Sugita's system, no one could even begin to suspect. After that, they handed him over to Tokio to check if he was the same who had done all the other crimes. That would normally take weeks but seeing the wolf had attacked two of their own, they didn't bother waiting the results from the DNA test to come in. they simply went with the teeth marks matching, something they found out without much difficulty, and locked him up, awaiting trial for more crimes than just assaulting an officer.

It all took a little more than two days to be done with; once it did, the two officers and the scientist took a much deserved leave of absence. Not that any of them would have time to rest!

The news travelled to the clan at the speed of light. They had reported it, but the news took a life of its own. Kondo had no idea how it became so well-known so fast, but Hijikata was sadly certain it had to do with Yaso. So when all three of them, Okita, Saitou and Tokio, were invited to speak for themselves, Hijikata made sure Yaso wasn't one of them, just to spite her. The designated place was Saitou and Okita's apartment, so naturally, the two men felt it prudent to invite Tokio in person. How? Okita sent his fellow werewolf to her house.

"Hell-oh! Saitou! Hi, I, uh, wasn't expecting you…"

Tokio opened the door to let him in, rushing inside to clean some of her mess up. She'd been doing nothing but watching movies on her laptop, eating junk food and sleeping for the entire day! Evidence of her bad habits lay about everywhere and she wanted to get rid of them.

"I didn't call, so it's reasonable."

An involuntary smile reached his lips as his nose twitched; this place smelt of nothing but her. Her own personal distinctive scent, the one he actually enjoyed if he was being honest, was deeply integrated with every piece of furniture, wall, or article of clothing. The best part was there was not a single trace of a male in this house. He realised it was the first thing he had noticed and he felt good about it. Ah damn, not again. Yet he still couldn't get that smirk off his face.

Maybe it had to do with the fact she was wearing only short shorts and a simple top, too.

"Sorry, I'm just going to-."

"Don't bother." He was right behind her in no time and she nearly ran into him! "I'm here to tell you Kondo wants to meet with you today so I came to pick you up, if you have nothing else to do." He took a long look around the room. "Which doesn't seem you do."

She smacked his forearm. "Kondo is your Alpha, right?"

He nodded, still smirking. "Good memory."

She smirked back, crossing her hands. "How d'you think I became a scientist?"

"Stood half-naked in front of more people than just me?"

It was marvellous to watch the transition from cocky and confident to deathly embarrassed, red cheeks; she spluttered something reminiscent of "I'd never!" and "how dare you" before she retired to her room to change, banging the door on her way in.

The sounds of effort and the rustling of clothes were tantalising. She was only some mere feet away, a simple wooden door separating them. He could go in there at any second…! He knew his way of thinking was skewed because of all the smells around the house—scent was always his one big weakness. And his wolfish instincts were particularly sharp with all that transpired recently. It was a double edged sword. Maybe he shouldn't have come after all because all he thought about was what was happening behind the door and-…ah damn. It wasn't his idea to come, it was Okita's. He knew. The little shit knew what would happen and sent him regardless! A talk was bound to be had between them.

Although, considering his friend knew him too well and the fact this wasn't a particularly bad thing to experience, he was torn between kicking and thanking him. Maybe he'd do both.

"I'm ready," she announced as she re-emerged from her room. She wore her usual clothes, the ones she preferred for work, but simpler. Her glasses were missing but otherwise she was almost ready for work. "Shall we?"

He nodded.

.

"…I expected you to have a cat." Was what he said while driving. They hadn't made any attempt at conversation till then, and it sort of annoyed him so he wanted to fix it. And what a better way to get her talking, other than teasing?

Her eyebrow raised. "Why?"

"You strike me as a cat person…and since you're living alone anyway, it fits."

"Ha ha." She rolled her eyes. "If you must know, I don't have a preference when it comes to animals. I like them all. And despite living alone, I wasn't single, so hah!"

"…you weren't? Odd." He almost let the "I hadn't smelt another man on you" line slip.

"I wasn't. It's been already half a year since I broke up."

"How come?"

She looked to the side. "I know it will sound terrible but it isn't," she forewarned and after heaving a great sigh, she admitted: "he proposed."

"That's a very unique reason to dump someone."

"Oh shut it! I…actually wanted to break up with him for a while, but I was hesitating. He was good, I guess, at being a significant other but sort of scary. I was never crazy about the relationship, I was sort of pressured into it, too…and then he proposed! I freaked out. That's when I knew I couldn't possibly go on with him. So I said no and then I left him."

He didn't miss the awkward pause or the way she must have abridged something in her story. "And then what?"

She turned to look at him. His eyebrow was raised, buying none of her purposeful silence and careful avoidance.

"And then what?" he repeated his question, demanding an answer this once.

She swallowed a knot in her throat. "Then he wouldn't take no for an answer and I had to make sure he would stay away. So I moved."

Involuntarily, every part and instinct of his went into battle mode. "He threatened you?"

"No, he did something worse…he kept sending me wedding proposals through mail, e-mail, billboards, vandalising walls…it was sort of creepy. And he knew where I lived, so I moved the hell out."

"…has he bothered you again? I can tell when you're lying, so be careful."

She chuckled at the sudden bossiness. "No, he hasn't." A small smirk played on her lips. "What is this, are you worried about me Detective?"

The protective streak in him was sort of howling. "…wouldn't you, if you heard someone say something like that?"

"Oh but I have." He spared a confused glance at her innuendo. "I can't help but wonder after all…when you thought I was in Lunacy you mentioned your, um, intended? You didn't speak highly of her and Okita even mentioned she would manipulate your situation to get people to like her or appreciate her or something. But why? Didn't you tell me really she wants to marry you? Why would she manipulate you?"

"Tch!" that came out before he could stop it. Schooling his expression in something neutral immediately, he found his words. "Yaso is a woman who is very well-liked within the clan and despite not being high in the hierarchy, she is also well-respected. I am exactly the opposite in all aspects. My mentor and Alpha of our entire clan, Kondo, thought the match was ideal."

"Uh huh."

"…he helped me when no one else did, guided me. I owe him too big a debt to disobey him. He sponsors our match, so I can't possibly say no."

"Because he's the Alpha or because he helped you?"

A crooked smile played on his lips. "What do you think?"

"But if he hadn't done all that," she went on undeterred "would you still be with her?"

"No." he replied and his answer was swift.

"That'll be a loveless marriage if I ever saw one."

He had no answer to that.

.

When they arrived, she was surprised to see the place he led her read the same address as Saitou's apartment on file. She only knew his address because someone had told her – aka she looked it up one day but felt too embarrassed for being caught, and blamed it on personnel recording stuff –. So that meant Kondo had chosen to meet her in Saitou and Okita's apartment—that meant she'd go to their place. It felt weird.

"Welcome to the wolf's den!" an exuberant Okita saluted! Just as she was about to knock on the door, he had opened it! "Please step inside, little Red."

"Red?" she wondered out loud as she walked in.

"As in Little Red Riding Hood! I just thought of it." He continued proudly.

She rolled her eyes. They still made these ridiculous jokes. When would the torture end? But she had to go no further to sober up. She saw a serious man sitting cross-legged on a tatami mat upon the marble floor. There was tea next to him on the right side. The white of his traditional Japanese clothes made quite a contrast with his darker than usual skin. He had a stern expression and a bun on top of his head to compliment it. He had his eyes closed but rose perfectly without ever opening them. He did only when he went close to her and she noticed they were the same strict brown of his hair.

"My name is Kondo Isami. I am honoured to make your acquaintance."

He bowed so deeply to her, it made her feel awkward. She stiffly did the same. "I-I'm Takagi Tokio, pleasure to meet you, sir."

"I am Hijikata Toushijou," came a second voice on her left and she jumped! The Alpha's presence was so strong, she had paid attention to little else, like the room or if there were any others but her, Saitou, Okita and Kondo.

But there was! A tall, black-haired beautiful man with delicate features. Yet his hands were calloused and rough that spoke of strength in those deceivingly lean arms. His very long hair was in a high ponytail. She vaguely remembered his name being mentioned as the one who would scold them. Funny, he looked less imposing than Saitou. How could he ever scold him?

Only then did she take notice of the place, while exchanging pleasantries with the new men: it had a big kitchen and a living room, with room to spare. These two were connected, with nothing but a half-wall that acted as a bar to put the boundaries. There was a table and four chairs in the kitchen area, all very bachelor like, but the living room had seen better days: all furniture were drawn to the side, carpets resting in bundles on the walls to make way for the tatami mats and the rest of the traditional "equipment" now lying in the centre of the room. Apparently, they rearranged the place in order to accept their Alpha.

Then there was a small hallway that no doubt led to bedrooms and the bathroom. The decoration was all Okita, she could tell by the extravagant style of some vases and paintings. Saitou's only real touch was the taken-right-out-of-a-movie detective drawing board at the far end of the living room, next to the big window. The window door was a couple of metres to the left and had a whole stand of nothing but figurines, compliments of Okita as well, seeing they were all from shows he enjoyed.

"Why don't we all sit down and discuss the situation that has come up?"

They gestured for her to sit in the middle of the three small tatami mats that stood opposite the two bigger ones; these were their positions, she guessed, and she sat on her knees. The men fell in step and they all occupied their designated seat-mats. Kondo and Hijikata basically zoomed in on her, she knew by the way their noses twitched and their eyes focused. She then had a memory of how Okita and Saitou had done the exact same thing when they had first met her and she could almost scoff at herself.

How could she have been so blind?

"My clansmen, your co-workers, told us how you found out they are werewolves and everything that happened right before and after." She nodded at Kondo's words. "They informed us you are generally pro-werewolf and we all appreciate that; we believed them because they have mentioned you before in the same light, so we know they aren't simply covering up things." She nodded again. "But I wanted to meet you in person to be able to be certain. You don't seem too shocked by our presence nor too inconvenienced so I can guess you're taking this situation in stride."

"If I may, Kondo-san, I have been working with these men for more than two years. The worst they ever did was joke." Both men smiled knowingly, sharing the inside joke. "And if anything, their lycanthropy only explains some of their stranger behaviour instead of creating more questions. I don't see them in a new light because of this, nor am I suddenly afraid of them. I can tell they aren't changed at all towards me and I can definitely understand why they'd keep it a secret. I wish they had told me on their own, though, but that's another story."

"They couldn't tell you because I wouldn't allow it."

"I know; I won't complain…too much."

Finally, Kondo cracked a smile. "You are indeed a joy for a human." He shook his head and then turned to Hijikata, gesturing for him to speak.

"I am in the pleasant position to announce there will be no change in our plans for you two; as far as you are concerned, Takagi Tokio, you have already risked enough to keep their nature hidden, so we consider you an ally for now, as long as you agree with it."

"Of course I do." She said in the end hastily when she realised they were actually expecting an answer from her.

"Marvellous." As if that was the word, Kondo and Hijikata stood at the same time. "Then we shall take our leave and let things unfold for now; should we decide on something else, we will inform you."

"Hijikata," Saitou started, standing up and offering a hand to Tokio – a hand she took gladly, because her feet had gone numb – "I'd like to tell Tokio of our role in the clan and the reason we entered police in particular and society in general."

He considered; but Saitou felt like he wasn't thinking about what he had just asked him, but something else. Something that Okita must have thought too, because he noticed the small devious smile on his lips. Still it felt like a century rather than the half minute it was, till he heard the permission he was seeking.

"You may."

Bowing a final time, the two highest ranking men in the Mibu clan exited the apartment.

Okita beamed. "That went well!"

"It did, didn't it? You said I'd meet your Alpha and I was so worried it would be this grizzled grumpy old man but…he barely was forty! And his right hand man was young, too. Seeing how they are so high in the hierarchy, you are a pretty young clan, aren't you?"

"We are warriors, hence our strongest is always the leader." Saitou informed offhandedly. He nodded to Okita and without sharing a single word, they had both started doing the same thing: rearranging their furniture. "He chooses the men around him in the same principals—wife, too."

"Oh, he's married?"

"Since he was twenty!" Okita took the lead again "It's sort of a rule within our clan: if you want to be the Alpha Male you've better already found the Alpha Female. Even if you are objectively stronger by the guy who vies for the top and he's married and you're not, you bet he'll get it instead of you." He considered. "If it's a huge margin maybe not, but if you're a little stronger and single while he is a little weaker and married, you're the one to come out a loser."

"I see…how long has he been the Alpha?"

"Fifteen years."

She was really impressed with their strength; they've been moving heavy furniture and other things while speaking and they haven't lost their even breathing for a moment. Regular humans would be panting by now. "Is that a long run?"

"No, our Alpha usually lasts from twenty to forty years—it was less only during the warring era, once upon a time, mainly because we are the core warring faction of the werewolf clans of Japan."

"What is impressive is the fact he took the position so young, at twenty five." Saitou informed "but they all say it was Tae who made him into a proper leader. Which is why it is important to have a mate if you want to be the Alpha. He was called childish and brass but she tempered him down. Plus, if you are a leader and your only counsellors are your right hand man and maybe one or two elders, you definitely need another person to act in your interest. And if she's a woman, all the better; men and women have very different perspectives and if one needs to lead both are equally important."

"I see…so why did they choose for you to join the force?"

The last piece of misplaced decoration was finally put back into place. Dusting their hands, both proceeded to sit at the kitchen table, next to which Tokio was standing. She took it as a sign to join them. "They didn't; we did. We decided it was the easiest occupation from which to keep a close eye on werewolf activities both inside and outside our pack while actually doing something to stop those who cross the line."

She was starting to get an idea about what they were trying to do so she felt like she wanted to figure it out on her own instead of simply being told. Her eyes shone with curiosity. "…go on."

Just as Saitou opened his mouth, Okita remembered they were at their home and played the proper host. "Would you like some tea, Tokio-chan?"

"That'd be great." With her acceptance functioning as the end of the topic, Saitou took the front seat again.

"We were nineteen when we applied. We were sent out to human society younger than that of course, about eight."

"That's too young! What did your parents say?"

"They knew this would happen from the moment they didn't register our names so it wasn't a shock to them," Okita explained as he prepped the water. "Well, at least mine did; Saitou's had died the same year he was supposed to go."

She looked at him worried, but saw that the man in question looked emotionless. "I'm sorry for your loss."

"It was a long time ago…but thanks."

"Anyway, they shipped us off to this very apartment but we had a female guardian whom we could call "mother" in front of other people." the chipper man continued, getting the china out and some biscuits. "Then time passed and we became better at acting as humans than werewolves so the Alpha decided to pull the plug; but then Kondo took charge and became the Alpha and announced we wouldn't be going anywhere. Long story short, he made sure we had a more frequent presence at the clan but still living with humans and he gave us the freedom we needed in order to do what's necessary. He knows he can count on us and we appreciate his trust."

"Alright, I must admit this all makes sense but one thing: you haven't told me what it is your Alpha trying to achieve by putting you in human society. Is he trying to see if you can blend in? I mean of course you can; fifty years ago humans didn't even know supernatural beings existed at all. So what is it?"

Saitou looked at Okita and Okita had stopped pouring the tea to look at Saitou; they exchanged a very charged look. A silent battle or argument was taking place that she could tell by the intensity of the men's eyes. Saitou had such expressive eyes…finally the younger man sighed, giving in first. Finishing his tea, he put three cups on the table. She noticed he had made coffee for his friend.

But then a thought crossed Okita's mind and it seemed to rejuvenate him for he smiled as he sat next to her.

"Nothing gets past you Tokio-chan! You easily see into people's intentions. No wonder Saitou likes you so much." He received a well-placed kick underneath the table, purposefully not secret, but if it hurt him no one could tell. "I meant you two have that in common, no need for violence…!" he played coy. "But to answer your question, the answer is simple: we have a plan."

"What plan?"

Okita's grin became wolfish. "A long, exhausting one! We want humans to treat us as equals. And to that end, we have littered the place with superhuman beings such as ourselves, to show people we can live among them without posing a real threat! We even, gasp, protect them."

His theatricality caused her to laugh. "I see, I see. So you are running a long con, huh? And you two aren't the only werewolves to do this, are you?"

"Well observed; in fact, Hijikata-san is also one of us! Well, he's a lawyer."

"Of course he's a lawyer," she commented like she was a fool for not noticing.

"And who's better to revisit and revise a legal document, such as the Supernatural beings Registry, than a good lawyer? Of course this is a team effort. Excluding vampires who naturally can't be hidden well within human society due to their sun-problem" he threw some air quotes there "all others are in on it. This is a well-coordinated, years-long attempt at grabbing equality from all of us repressed by human society creatures." He shrugged. "We simply want to belong, after all. And we don't want to hurt anyone."

Finally it clicked. "So you two picked a job where you can literally weed out the bad seeds of your kind and lock them up somewhere away from the public eye so when all this goes formal, you only have the best base imaginable for negotiations. Well, not just your kind; all kinds of supernatural beings."

Okita winked at her; Saitou glared at him. "Bingo!"

"I see. That is…that is amazing. That's very smart! Who started it?"

Saitou took the lead again. "The fairies did; said they were too tired of people fetishizing and sexualizing them for no apparent reason and the revelation of the wings nearly made them the butt of every joke. We instantly agreed; we, were-bears and the fairies were the core. Then came the kappa, the oni and the youkai."

"Aka all those who were mostly misunderstood due to lore or older transgressions." Okita cut in. "But we have left the vampires out of the deal because those guys just can't blend in no matter what. When we were twenty, I went to this underground party as an undercover as part of my training, and I could tell from a mile away who were the vamps; I had to arrest five of them to simply not give myself away to the other undercovers! Man, that night was a disaster. Thanks to Saitou who was overseeing the operation no one was harmed—human or otherwise."

She turned to Saitou smiling. "You are admittedly a very good police officer."

"Awww, was that a compliment Tokio-chan? You're so nice! Isn't she very nice, Saitou?"

"…she is." But the suspicion in his eyes and tone wasn't for her, that much she understood. It was all directed at Okita. Saitou had caught on to a vibe and that was that his friend was planning something. He couldn't tell what but he was certain he was. Tokio realised that something was actually brewing here, so instead of doing anything else, she simply sat back in her chair, tea in hand, watching things unfold.

The more time went by, the more amusing the two men were. She could sit in this chair listening to their back and forth for days! Okita could rival any chatterbox in any day with how much he was speaking while Saitou's grumpiness about it could be met only by those old men who wished kids would just get off their yards. It was so funny…! But somehow tiring. Her day wasn't all that demanding physically – she hadn't even gone for her run – but it certainly drained her energy. It was her anxiety of meeting Kondo and then the huge relief that did it. She didn't know when, but at some point the two men blinked in and out; her eyelashes felt like lead and her head was too big for her body.

Still holding the cup of tea in her lap, she drifted off to sweet sleep.

"Oh no! Tokio-chan fell asleep in our home, who could have known?" Okita's tone and behaviour was purposefully unconvincing of his surprise, causing Saitou to glare. "Well, it wasn't supposed to happen" he almost laughed at his too obvious lie "but now that it did, we can't help but offer her a comfortable place to stay."

Saitou crossed his hands, bracing. "We have no other choice but to put her up for the night." The older man's raised eyebrow did nothing to deter Okita who shrugged as if it was none of his concern—or fault. "Come on, then! What are you waiting for? We can't let her sleep on our kitchen table; pick her up and get her to your room. What kind of man are you?"

"So we can't wake her up?"

A hand went to Okita's heart, pretending to be hurt. "Where are your manners!? Are we going to push her off the chair and pull on her hair, too? I'm disappointed in you, Saitou!"

Acting like the mother who had just found out her kid cheated on a test, Okita blew air out of his nose, stood up offended and stalked off into his own room. Consequently that left the "couple" alone. Saitou sighed. What was his friend planning exactly, other than embarrassing him? He didn't like Yaso and he did like Tokio but was he going this far just for him, just so Saitou could have at least some fun before he got married? But he wasn't that sort of man, Okita knew. What was going on?

Sighing for the umpteenth time that day, Saitou took the cup out of Tokio's hands and placed it on the table. She didn't even stir! Shaking his head at how much of a heavy sleeper she was, he carefully put a hand under her knees and another on her back. In one swift motion, he picked her up. He couldn't help the second he spent staring at her. It felt so wrong to be in this position with her, but she fit perfectly in his hands. It took a lot out of him to keep reminding himself he was engaged to Yaso—even if he never even so much as let her stay in his house for more than ten minutes.

But with Tokio, he felt like he didn't want her to leave.

Fuck.

Okita's head appeared, just as Saitou was walking into his room; his voice was heard a second later, teasing and meaningful. "You're welcome!" As Saitou turned, he watched Okita wink and then disappear behind his door again, before he could so much as react to him.

What the hell had Okita planned?

.

.

It was late at night when the woman found out about the meeting between her Alpha, Hijikata, Okita, Saitou and a human woman named Takagi Tokio.

At first she thought it to be hearsay between the more gossiping members, but when she confronted Kondo, he confirmed it. Her beautiful slim features twisted into something feral then; she could feel her hair stand on edge and she feared she'd go into a frenzy if she didn't calm her heart. Taking a subtle, but deep breath – maybe scaring her Alpha by her reaction a little bit – she flipped her long hair back. Even if Kondo was immune to her smooth as silk black mane's charms, it was still a habit. Then she asked about the content of this meeting, if he didn't overstep any boundaries, palms carefully folded in front of her.

"Saitou is your fiancé, is he not?" Kondo said offhandedly. "You can ask him. Go visit him tomorrow morning."

Her green eyes shone and then took a darker hue, almost like the forest, dark and threatening, but alluring to many. She would not allow this transgression, as Yaso saw it, to go unaddressed or unpunished. He'd visit those two first thing in the morning, right before they leave for work. Determined not to have anyone warn them of her arrival, she nodded to her Alpha respectfully but said "I don't know if I can make it tomorrow. Would you mind if I left the compound tomorrow or another day within the week?"

"Ah, no, by all means; choose whichever day you want."

She nodded one last time, leaving him behind. First thing in the morning, she'd be there.

.

.

Saitou hadn't slept well that night, if at all. If he thought it was torture to hear her change in the other room, what about now? She was sleeping in his house, in his room, in his own bed! But he could control himself, he was an adult, safely at the age of twenty nine without ever being accused as a pervert or a man of lax morals. What he couldn't keep a straight face or stop thinking about was how, in the morning, his clothes and his sheets and his pillows would all smell of her.

He had laid her on her back, rummaging to find a clean and proper pair of sweatpants or something for her to change into once she wakes up a little and realises the position she's in—and that she's sleeping in her everyday clothes. And they had to go to work tomorrow, too so that was another issue.

In fact, Saitou had been the most considerate he has ever been in his life and yet he couldn't give himself a break because all he thought about was the least considerate he had ever been in his life. How will she look in his clothes? How entirely satisfying it feels to have her scent mingle with his so directly. And how relaxing it felt to see Okita not only agree but actively encourage him by being so nice to her.

Forget what one thinks about Okita, if that man dislikes you, he can be sharper than the cutting edge of a katana. All the while being blunter than a rock about it. Yet with Tokio, he was always sweet and on his best behaviour. It was, in a way, heart-warming. At the same time, quite alarming; Okita had a weird taste in women, and say what they like about werewolves and their creed of "when you mate, you mate for life"; it may be true but that doesn't mean you can't fool around before finding the one. It just so happened that once you were married, you were married. No backpedalling and divorces, those simply didn't exist. If the werewolf so much as put a claim on you and mentioned how he'd like to be with you forever, you can bet they mean forever.

But that still doesn't mean, before they do that, they can't have a string of lovers, much like Okita and his human-like ways—and one of the main reasons Hijikata gives Okita such a hard time. Wolves are monogamous creatures by nature and no one denies that…but Okita is really bent on not finding the one any time soon. He says he wants to have experience so that his one can have fun and won't be doomed to a boring wedding. Well, he's not wrong, but it just isn't Saitou's personality either. He leans more towards the "find the one and get settled" than "go through an army of women and finally marry when you've had enough of casual sex". Saitou himself didn't crave so much for sex as much for connection with another person.

It was one of the reasons he never complained about his match but truth be told, he knew that connection could never be made with Yaso. He had tried and failed, when he was still younger and more eager, but it just didn't click. Her wants and his were and still are too different. Their personalities don't go well together—the bad kind of opposite.

Tokio on the other hand, was that good sort of opposite. He wouldn't mind sharing the rest of his life with her even if all that amounted to was awkward, sleepless nights like these. Because in a way he felt closer to her; he enjoyed watching her talk, eat, and drink; he loved getting her to bed. When he carried her in his arms she was all she expected to be and more. She was soft but not vulnerable; she had weight but she wasn't heavy; she was…perfect really, perfect for his hands. He felt he could carry her weight around for hours.

Of course his mind drifted to dirtier thoughts and he had to wonder how good she'd look with nothing on but that took second place to his excitement of simply being around her for so long. He sighed. Just when had he started thinking about things like that? Why was his mind silently comparing the two women? He knew from the start Tokio was better, so why did he go into the trouble now? He was just fine when Kondo announced his engagement ten years ago, but now he was being stubborn.

Maybe her words in the car affected him; maybe the fact she was now in the picture affected him. These almost three years they knew each other, he knew he had no chance. She was a human, he was a werewolf; she was in the dark about his true nature and his Alpha would never meet her. Maybe now that she existed in the others' head, maybe that gave him hope.

"How silly of me." _I should know better_.

And yet, when the morning came and he watched a groggy Tokio stumble outside his room in her oversized apparel, his gut stirred in all the right ways. With Okita up since six, he couldn't sleep much more himself so both men had showered by the time she was up and about. His friend had even ran to the bakery down the road, to get her some breakfast. Then he informed her they'd be going to her place so she could change, too but if she wanted to shower, she'd better do it now. She agreed and by the time Okita returned she had been refreshed! The lengths Saitou went to, to keep his mind off of it, had been Herculean, though.

"Thank you so much for your hospitality. But you should have woken me up—I inconvenienced you. You even slept on the couch…!"

Saitou shook his head. "It wasn't trouble. And I sleep on that couch a lot."

"Oh?"

She didn't say much but he saw her inquisitive stare and he elaborated. "I sleep there when I'm having trouble with a case, it helps."

"Because your board is so close, right?"

He smiled satisfied at her observation; she knew him well surprisingly. He loved as much as he hated that fact. He shouldn't be getting his hopes up. "Exactly."

She smirked, crossing her hands. "Always the workaholic I see."

"Like you don't bring work home with you."

"Hmm, I bet Okita doesn't."

They looked at him. Instead of outright answering though, Okita led their little party out of the house by waving the pastries right in front of them. "Come on," he drawled, complaining. "No one should take his work at home which is why I always get there on time and I am never late. So I'd like to be on time now, too. And we can't list as reason for tardiness your flirting anyway."

"Wh-what are you talking about? I'm not, I mean—"

"We won't be late so you won't have to list anything as a reason." Saitou simply countered. But just as the younger man was ready to snap something back, both men stopped dead in their tracks. Their nose twitched visibly and they whipped around together, at the same direction.

Tokio was taken back. "What?" They saw nothing, though; yet they both smelt it. They looked at each other. "What is it?" she repeated.

"Nothing…"

Yet both knew exactly what it was: Yaso's scent. But she was nowhere to be seen. They shrugged; oh well. One less unpleasant encounter to think about.

Tokio had gone up to her apartment to change and Saitou had refused her invitation of them going up to wait there because "then we'll really be late". The truth was Saitou refused because…he really didn't want to spoil the pure scent of her house. It was just hers and that's how it should have been. The fact he entered her sanctuary and now his own scent transferred there, too was an added bonus.

"We could vacuum-seal our apartment if you want to." Okita opined as they waited.

Saitou looked at him as if daring him to go on. "Well, at least your room. Or maybe just the clothes or the towels she used to-OW! Saitou…!"

In a rare display of emotion, the man in question literally smacked him! "Don't make it sound like I'm a pervert."

He pouted. "That's not what I meant and you know it." But then his eyes took that devilish shine and he nudged him with his elbow repeatedly. "I'm a were and a man, too after all and I know that scent can be very enticing…!" Saitou glared. "Don't be like that, I have more experience with women than you anyway!"

"Okita," he started ominously and the Okita saw the trouble brewing so he threw his hands in the air pacifyingly.

"Alright, alright, I won't speak again." Pause. "But if I were you, I'd totally-"

"Okita."

The short man rolled his eyes. "…you're no fun."

.

Tokio prided herself in being a staunch werewolf defender, pro-supernatural beings equality spokesperson and a debunker of ridiculous accusations against them, such as they are solely ruled by emotion and so on so forth. She even stepped into the supernatural beings' shoes in some way, as she herself accused their accusers being over-the-top, obnoxious hatemongers who only wanted to spread fear when they would say weres and werewolves and werebears in particular were freaking scary! She would easily brush them off without a care in the world.

Even now, after having born witness to two werewolves fighting, she still wouldn't call them scary. That is, till the moment something entirely different happened and scared the living daylights out of her.

That same day she went back to work in the company of her colleagues after their mini break, she chose to have lunch in the station, per usual, but this once, she felt oddly social so she chose to do it in the company of others. Leaving her lab which lay on the third floor, she descended to the first one, where most people would do the same.

If she was being honest with herself, she didn't feel social as much as she needed to stay away from her own thoughts. All of her thoughts circled back to Saitou, all day long. She was analysing a sample of human tissue—she thought how different his sample would be from this one. She was testing someone's DNA for a match and all her mind focused on was how she had done something illegal in order to keep them safe and didn't even wait for the DNA test to come back to put that perp in the slammer. She took a look at herself in the mirror and thought that it had to be a werewolf thing to look so good so early in the morning because she looked something between tired and haggard while these two looked like they were gone for a week! And of course, that inescapably led to the thought of how Saitou had looked damn fine in the morning…she had wished he would at least have the courtesy to sleep with his shirt off, but nope, he was wearing something.

She remembered how she'd woken up in the middle of the night, almost sprang out of bed! She had no memory of this bedroom—where the hell-…? But once her eyes adjusted to the lack of light she could see the plainness of the room: a simple bed in the corner of the room, one that barely fit two people. The window was right next to it, while a wardrobe on the left, opposite the bed, stood equally plain but matching. There was a desk with a laptop on top of it, a lamp that now lay lightless and an armchair right in front of it which was also the sole reminisce of luxury in the room; it was black, leather and very comfortable looking. There was also a bookcase, filled to the brim, books stacked even on top of it where it wasn't supposed to.

She was certain this was Saitou's bedroom. As she tried to stand, she noticed the white-grey clothes that lay at the feet of the bed, a little wrinkled by her thrashing about. She noticed the size of the clothes and she knew these were his also, because damn were they huge! But…didn't that mean she fell asleep and instead of waking her up, he carried her here? And he took the time to pick out clothes for her and offered his room and chose to be inconvenienced? She started changing; when she was finished, she tip-toed to the door and peeked outside.

There he was. Saitou was sleeping on the couch, breath coming out evenly. He looked to be comfortable but her heart still went out to him.

She sighed. That was all she could think about! Why? He was…curt and bossy and a know-it-all! He always had to be right and he was obstinate. But damn it, somehow that seemed sexy to her now. She wouldn't think the same a year ago…! Also, he was sort of engaged and even if he didn't really like his fiancé, he still wasn't leaving her. So that put this whole situation in the big no-no list.

And just as she was beating herself up over thinking of an engaged man in any sort of non-platonic light and tried to distract herself from her own thoughts – still not managing, as virtually no one from the station came to sit with her – what later would be dubbed as _the incident_ happened.

A tall, beautiful woman appeared behind the glass doors; she was searching for something, craning her neck to look inside, and she seemed to have found it when her eyes met Tokio's. The strange woman zeroed in on her and Tokio felt an exceeding wave of awkwardness hit her in full force, but she still couldn't look away.

Who the hell was she? And why was she intensely glaring at Tokio even as she came closer? Her stride wide and steady, even on her high heels – that gave her the feeling of a fearless amazon – her long black hair bounced with her ever step, jumping on her shoulders, cascading down her back. She pushed the doors open with one hand, bending them to her will and they fell closed behind her with a thud.

She didn't break eye contact for a second, even as she literally stomped all the way to where Tokio was seating, anger being more evident and clear on the imposing woman's face as she came closer. And when the fierce woman came to a screeching halt right in front of her, she leaned back. The stranger's hands banged on the table and flipped her tray of food!

Other than the heads it turned – all of them –, it also switched the feeling of the entire situation: from bizarre and maybe interesting to actually threatening!

She leaned in dangerously close, Tokio trying to lean back as much as she can, displaying as less emotion as she could. It wasn't an exaggeration to say she really felt threatened but like hell she would back down. She raised an eyebrow defiantly…but then the woman did the weirdest thing: with the same expression of anger she took a long, intrusive whiff of Tokio.

An ominous feeling overtook the scientist.

"You stink!" The mystery woman spat and kept glaring. "But what's worse is that your foul stench is all over my fiancé's apartment."

 _Oh no_. Tokio swallowed.

"What do you have to say for yourself, you little home-wrecker?"

The venom in Yaso's voice nearly poisoned her and the sinking feeling in her heart was finally explained. "Uh-I didn't, I mean, you have it all wrong!"

"Oh? You're telling me I didn't get the stench down right?"

Tokio's cheeks reddened worse than ever and looked away for the first time. She felt like she lost a battle by doing it, as the resolute Yaso leaned in even more but she couldn't help it. No way was this happening! In front of so many people, too oh dear lord, why this, why now?

"I spent the night there but that was because of the meeting with, you know. I just slept, nothing happened!" she kept alternating between staring at the floor and making sure whether Yaso was still glaring or not. "Ask Saitou if you don't believe me, please! Nothing…nothing happened, I swear."

Was she bitter it didn't? Ugh! What sort of thought decided to cross her mind right now!?

"Then why is your stench all over his bed and clothes, too?"

"Please!" she buried her face in her hands, mortified. What would her colleagues even think of her now? "No-nothing happened; I just stayed the night. Alone. He slept on the couch, I swear."

Yaso stared her down for another couple of seconds – that felt like aeons – before finally having her fill. Snorting in contempt, she took off just as ostentatiously as she had arrived. Tokio simply remained there, staring after the woman in shock.

Oh. No.


	3. The conclusion

Disclaimer: Standard disclaimer applies. We own nothing.

 **Legalronin** here, I apologise for the delay. It's no excuse but between work and computer problems this chapter took much longer to churn out. I hope you enjoy this last instalment of our Halloween special (haha). I would like to thank my co-writer for her hard work and patience, it's been fun! ;)

 **F_A_I** here, this is the last chapter! It still counts as Halloween special, come on; first two chapters were released on time. Thank you all for reading, reviewing and favouriting, keep being awesome. Thank you to Legalronin, too for bearing with me and my badgering and my need for huge chapters. I feel like I bled you dry and it wasn't my attention, honest! That's that and now, please enjoy the conclusion!

* * *

" _You will never believe_ what I **just found out**!"

Okita's voice grew stronger and stronger the closer he came to Saitou's room, especially when he busted the door open, stomping into the man's bedroom, as he sat at his desk. Despite the urgency and surprise in his friend's voice, Saitou was not impressed with Okita's lack of manners, when he didn't even take his shoes off at the door and now he was dragging dirt all over their apartment—his own personal room, too.

"Yeah, I know, don't glare, but my information is important. So since we had a different shift today, for the first time in ages, what do I do? I go have lunch in the cafeteria with all those people you ignore on a daily basis for no other reason than that they're _idiots_ , as you put it." He air-quoted, mimicking Saitou. "But like I've told you a thousand times, they have their uses and today was the day I was finally proven right!"

Saitou's unimpressed look didn't faze the shorter man one bit; if anything, it sent him into an even more intense frenzy! He slammed his hands on Saitou's desk or punctuated each word with a gesture.

"So I walk into the cafeteria, Tsukiyama and Yahaba being the only other detectives there, I join them," he didn't miss Saitou's expression of mild disgust and normally he would have agreed with him but right now he was burning to tell him the rest "and they were actually happy to have me, which made me suspicious. But I didn't say anything, I didn't bring it up, I simply sat down. Yet not even ten minutes into the conversation and what do they do?"

He paused for dramatic effect, making Saitou wonder where he found such enthusiasm for the – undoubtedly – gossip he heard from Tsukiyama and Yahaba. "They ask me about you!"

"Me."

"Yeah! And not just about vague things like how you're doing or whatever, no; they ask me about your _love life_."

"My what?"

Irritation started seepping into Saitou's words and it was plain for Okita to see. "Your love life; and not if you have a girlfriend, how she looks like etc etc," Okita waved his hands with a dramatic flair, "but they actually inquired about your fiancé!"

Saitou stared, long and hard, at his best friend. He was certain he must have misheard him because there was no way on earth those two assholes knew anything about Yaso. So how the hell they were even aware there was a fiancé in the picture?

"Your fiancé! And then they started giggling like school children and made all sorts of innuendos about you being a _player_ and juggling two women at the same time and good for you and how they never would have picked you out to be _that_ type, you know, the heartbreaker."

Had he been a lesser man, Saitou would have been speechless, mouth open. "Anyway, they finish their food and leave—rude by the way! They just stood up and left me there. So after ten seconds Greenhorn Number 3, you know, the new recruit who worships me," he said the last part a little arrogantly "came and sat with me. So I asked him what was up with them and what did they even mean. He looked so disappointed in the world—he looked down and said, _I don't believe all that. I don't think Okita-sempai would ever be such good friends with a person like Saitou-sempai if he was cheating on his fiancé. And I definitely don't think you'd be such good friends with Tokio-sempai if she was dating an engaged man_."

This once he couldn't resist the urge and Saitou felt his mouth hang open at the words that left his best friend's mouth, who instead of looking like he was pulling the biggest joke of his life, seemed equally distraught – yet satisfied by Saitou's reaction – thus making this thing too real for comfort.

"I know what you're thinking; what sort of drivel are they spouting, right? Well, guess what? I thought the exact same thing! So I turn to Greenhorn Number 3 and ask him where the hell he got that idea from. And what does he say in reply?"

He cleared his throat in an effort to better imitate the other's voice: " _Don't tell me you don't know about the incident_? What incident, I ask. **The** incident, he replies; _the one where some tall beauty with long black hair came in here, claiming she was Saitou-sempai's fiancé about a month ago; she came in like a whirlwind, accusing Tokio-sempai of sleeping with Saitou-sempai. I was there, I witnessed it_ , he continued like he was having a frigging war-flashback. _She_ _said she smelled_ _Tokio-sempai's perfume all over her fiancé's apartment_! And then he told me Tokio didn't deny the perfume thing, but she swore to Yaso nothing happened between you at all.

So, bottom line, our dear meddling Yaso came to the station a month ago and embarrassed Tokio in the cafeteria! No wonder Tokio was being so cold towards you that entire week, she must have freaked out!"

He hadn't realized when, but at some point during this little story, Saitou had stood up in utter shock; he could even feel his veins pumping the blood much more frequently than they should, so he tried to calm his heart down, or else who knew what might happen.

Because he finally knew why Tokio was being cold to him that week!

He hadn't expected it to hurt as much as it did but the moment she used an honorific with him, like he was just another generic colleague at work, he could feel his soul slowly being crushed. He hadn't realized he was actually looking forward to seeing, hearing her; listening to her teasing and giving some of his own. Also, after everything that transpired, he felt even closer to her. She told him about her crazy thank-god-never-at-the-status-of-fiancé boyfriend; she advised him about his own fiancé; she basically hit on him, but he pretended not to see it because he wanted it to go on and if he called her out on it then he'd have to tell her to stop it – because he wasn't the kind of man who played around with women, no matter what anyone else said –.

And when she kept being her usual self around Okita but not him, he could practically explode! Was she mad at him? Did he do something wrong without even realizing? But if that was the case, why wasn't she equally mad at Okita—whatever they did, they did together. Nothing made sense that week. And his nerves were dangerously close to snapping.

But then, magically, after that week was over, she reverted back to her old self with him, too. He had figured either something happened with her or maybe she'd heard something about him but then she found out the truth and it pleased her, so she stopped feeling wronged by him or whatnot. But who would have ever thought her reason was something like that? He could…ugh! He wanted to do so many things right now; go find Yaso and shake her by the shoulders while screaming in her face to mind her own business was at the top of the list.

But he knew he couldn't. If he did, it would only give her the satisfaction that he sought her out; plus she would see him emotional, even if it wasn't much, and he swore she would never see him sweat. But most importantly, if he went to Yaso to scold her about picking a fight with Tokio, he felt it would only make the self-centred woman even more aggressive towards his scientist. And he'd be damned if he put any more pressure than necessary on his precious scientist.

Huh; his, eh? That was an interesting new development.

"Yaso needs to be put in her place!" Okita exclaimed suddenly, pulling him out of his thoughts.

"…but if we go talk to her, it would only put Tokio in a difficult spot. Besides, she hasn't told us for a reason. Maybe she wants to deal with it on her own. And then there's the gossip around the precinct."

"True; those assholes can be scathing." There was a brief silence. "At least we can tell her we know about Yaso now, and see her reaction."

"We'll see."

Okita's expression turned determined. "I still think Yaso needs to be put her place."

"Okita…"

There was a warning and absolute quality to Saitou's voice; Okita waved his hand. "Relax; we don't have to confront Yaso; we don't even have to inconvenience anyone." A smirk formed on his lips. "I have another idea."

"…do I want to know?"

"Nope!"

He said that way too brightly; Saitou was both worried and reluctant. "Then don't tell me. And now go take your shoes off and take your ingenious plan with you. I'm working on a murder."

"Were-murder?"

"No; neither victim nor perp. Go."

"Yes boss! See you later, boss! I'll be in the kitchen when you need a coffee refill …or something to eat."

Okita exited the room laughing at his friend's resentment; but that wasn't all he laughed about. He finally had a reason to put his plan into motion. One more small nudge to the happy _almost_ couple, and his perfect plan would work. Perfect. Because he'd be damned if he let his best friend become entangled in a doomed marriage with such a selfish woman for no other reason than "honour" or what Saitou thought was honour. Just one small nudge and it'd be showtime…!

.

There was banging on the door as if fists were trying to tear it down! She was jolted from sleep by the distant sound of a voice, combined with the aforementioned relentless abuse of the door and tried to focus. What time was it? Of which day? Right, it was a Thursday night…she looked at her watch. Three in the morning.

Three in the morning!? What happened? She focused again. But this time on the voice outside her apartment, which sounded vaguely familiar.

"Tokio? Open up, Tokio! Tokio, are you alright? Open up!"

The voice was indeed familiar—too familiar; the person repeating her name over and over again was none other than Saitou Hajime. Oh dear lord! Why was Saitou at her apartment so late at night?

Now very distressed and equally convinced something had gone terribly wrong and not with work seeing he worked an early shift, but with his clan – which worried her even more – she rushed to the door, finding only one slipper in her dazed condition, and opened it breathlessly.

"What is it, what happened?"

They both looked at each other in surprise. They wore the exact same expression: concern and alarm. But neither appeared to be in any immediate danger. Saitou looked at her perplexed for the very first time in his life, while Tokio simply stared flabbergasted.

"You are…well." Was all he said.

"I am; all is well on your end, too I take it?"

"Yes."

Maybe it had to do with her sleep deprivation or the fact it was interrupted, but suddenly she was cranky. "Then why the commotion in three in the goddamn morning?"

"I thought…you weren't."

"I wasn't what?"

"Well."

"You thought I wasn't well?"

"Yes."

Her lips formed the first letter of "why" but she never went through with it. "Can you please come inside? It's late and I don't want to wake anybody up. Come on."

Only after she nodded twice did he allow himself in her apartment…but he was truly at a loss for words. He thought her crazy ex came back; he even smelt a man's musk around and now inside her apartment, too. But it had no male scent before. Yet if she was okay did that mean her ex came and went without causing a problem or maybe it wasn't her ex but another man. Maybe she started dating someone…

He felt like an idiot. It was all his fault, too! He just jumped to the stupidest conclusion his recently overprotective and borderline possessive mind offered. If she hadn't brought him tea and sat down right next to him, he would still be berating himself. But she did and the warmth of the beverage, combined with her now overwhelming scent brought him out of his thoughts.

"Now let's take it from the top," she began like she had never made a ten-minute pause "you came here in the middle of the night because you thought I was in danger." He nodded; inwardly she thought that was very kind of him. "What sort of danger?"

"There has been an increased number of robberies in the vicinity and a fire broke out this evening; coupled with that fact, Okita told me he's been seeing a suspicious individual watching you lately and I just received a call _from_ Okita, saying there was another break-in in your apartment complex, I thought it might have been the man following you around. Okita did say it wasn't your apartment so maybe the stalker got the wrong one, so I thought if I hurried maybe I could prevent the stalker from finding your apartment."

She chuckled. "When was that call?"

"…ten minutes ago."

She looked at him impressed. "You sure are fast! But, there hasn't been a break-in here for over ten months; and today was no different."

"Are you saying Okita…lied to me?"

She was starting to laugh now. "I'm afraid so! And believe me, if anyone was following me around, I would have noticed before him. I was actually worried about that so I made sure I learned how to spot stalkers. I can assure you I am stalker-free."

"Oh."

Fuck. Fuck, _fuck_ , fuck… **fuck**. Okita set him up and he fell for it like the biggest idiot on the planet. That little ass saw right through him! He used the fact that he was starting to have deep feelings for Tokio to manipulate him into…what exactly? Showing them?

Still chuckling, far more relaxed now, she leaned back on her sofa and rested her head. Not that he hadn't noticed before, but only now did he fully appreciate her shorts and top; must be the designated house-wear.

"Why would he do that though? It's not funny! At least you care though; and now I feel if anything bad does happen I can depend on you."

Disregarding the compliment, he stared and he stared hard. Was she messing with him? He could get whiplash from her ignorance. "Tokio, he knows."

"Okita knows? He knows what?"

"He knows I-…wait. You haven't noticed…? At all?"

She was confused. "Notice what?"

He was about to answer her with the truth; the unabridged, emotional truth. But he hesitated; if he did…wouldn't that practically mean they couldn't coexist anymore? After all, having a forbidden flame for a person is all well and good so long as you do not admit to the other person—if you failed at the "never acknowledge it" part, like he had. And he knew she was ethical. She wouldn't accept being around him and shamelessly flirting with him if he confessed his true feelings. So what should he do? He couldn't afford it, losing her presence in his life. That's what it felt like, this specific moment.

And if she didn't return his feelings, it'd be fine, nothing lost, nothing gained; but if she did, everything was lost while there was too little to be gained. He heaved a discreet sigh and looked at her seriously.

"Never mind."

"Notice what?" she insisted, stifling a yawn.

"…never mind; go back to bed. I'll be going back to mine."

"Your bed is blocks away and I'm too awake to go back to sleep now," lies, "so speak; notice what?"

Why was she so adamant about this? He gave her a look that clearly meant drop it but she infuriatingly did the opposite with a look of her own, challenging and stubborn. This time his sigh was audible. "Go back to sleep Tokio; if you don't I might start asking questions of my own."

His voice had more bite to it than he intended but he hoped she didn't notice.

"Oh?" She leaned forward, folding her legs under her on the couch, obviously defensive. "Like what?"

"Like why is there such a distinctive masculine scent in your house, _if it isn't the stalker_?"

Ah, crap. That's not what he wanted to ask or how he wanted it to sound like. He practically interrogated her. He even warned her that if she kept asking he would ask his own questions. He closed his eyes and tried to refocus for a second; he had to apologise somehow. His inner wolf was taking over the conversation and his interactions with her lately and it had to stop.

Yet his attempt at keeping his cool didn't translate well to Tokio as he watched her face transform into anger and offense!

"I didn't know I had to _explain_ myself to you! I'm a single woman of means and I deserve to not be alone; on the other hand you're kind of engaged!"

"I know."

But he said it so low and so dispirited, she didn't even hear it. "And you have been for the past ten years apparently, so don't go policing me! If you wanna police someone, police your fiancé."

"Yeah, I know, I just-"

"Or if you wanna police me about who I meet and why then at least have the decency to be able to tell me you are not engaged anymore!" She did hear him this time, she just chose to ignore him. "I cannot handle Yaso coming to the police station, _where I work,_ accusing me of things I never did, but I feel guilty for even thinking about it! So who are you to judge any male scent my house may have?"

He sighed defeated; barely registering that she actually mentioned _the_ incident. "I know."

"You keep saying that but I don't think you do; if you did, you wouldn't have asked in the first place! Just go back to your _intended,_ " she almost mocked "or go bother Okita but don't you dare try to act conservative with me and be all offended there's a distinctive male scent wafting through my apartment."

"I…I know. I really do." This time, his defeatist tone and overall downcast attitude caught her attention. "I'm sorry; I can't help it sometimes, so now I have to make amends."

"What do you mean you can't help it?"

He ran his hand through his hair in an effort to centre himself. "…this is not an excuse and I am not saying that justifies my attitude, it simply explains it." A small pause. "My wolfish nature is coming out stronger than before and only when I'm around you; we wolves are possessive creatures. I don't want to, but sometimes I act like an entitled prick, just like now. Forgive me."

"Look, I get it; we flirt. _Big deal_. You must have flirted with many women before—I only ask, no, _demand_ you do not flirt with me if you're going to stay engaged because to me, flirting leads to other things. That's all." There was a long pause. "So why are you possessive of me?"

He smirked, but it was more self-pitying than savvy. "You are wrong. I do not flirt with other women; I don't care about other women. I certainly don't do it often…"

"Alright, I'm not crazy, no matter what you may try to-!"

"No, no; I'm not saying you are. I mean, I don't usually do that—it's unethical, all things considered and I know that and I happen to be very ethical. But I did flirt with you, even though I shouldn't have."

 _Oh._

"So to me, that means you are different; you are special. Even if you shouldn't be."

 _Ah_.

"Thus, I'm…possessive of you, even if I shouldn't be." He was so disappointed in himself. How could he say all this to her, burdening her? "What Okita knows that obviously you don't because you don't know me as well, which is entirely normal, is that I have feelings for you. Feelings that—"

"You shouldn't have." He looked at her funnily. "I got the gist of it." She explained herself but sighed, nearly as heavily as him. "Alright, I see."

She sighed again. "Maybe it's the hour, but I have to say this, too." She looked him in the eye, unflinchingly. "I can't say I'm not interested in you. If I weren't, I wouldn't respond to you the same way. But I also cannot even begin to fathom myself entangled in such a mess! Yet at the same time, I know your predicament so I can't blame you entirely. Entirely, mind you."

They both chuckled at that. There was a serenity that followed that allowed both to enjoy the silence…until she decided to break it. "And my refrigerator broke down so I had to call someone to fix it; the man they sent was overly enthusiastic with his cologne."

He blinked; all the things that ran through his mind the moment he sniffed that other man's scent, all the images…they disappeared. Instead they were replaced with very good ones, and all he wanted to do was erase that man's smell from this house with his own in anyway necessary. The image of him pushing Tokio's back against said refrigerator's door while her legs wrapped around his waist dominated, especially since she admitted she had feelings for him, too.

He made a visible effort not to be taken in by the moment and say or do something stupid, so he decided it was high time he ended this late night-special. "I see. I'm sorry, I really have to go."

"Ah, but you haven't finished your tea yet."

Tokio's eyes grew sad at the thought of him leaving, asking him to stay. It was such a vulnerable look; one Saitou couldn't ignore try as he might.

"At least finish your tea."

Saitou looked into her eyes, and he knew what he had to say. "I can't."

Tokio blinked. She knew he was right but that didn't stop her heart from aching. But just as she was lowering her eyes, Saitou's hand came to rest on the back of her neck; another blink and his lips were on hers, her breath caught.

"I shouldn't." Saitou said after a breath, and even though he knew he shouldn't, he did it anyway: He kissed her, slowly drawing her into his arms.

But one kiss couldn't hurt.

Tokio's hands grasped his shirt, bringing him closer. "I know," she sighed.

One kiss couldn't hurt, right?

.

.

Despite having the late night shift, and a gruelling work night, Okita was wide-awake at eight o clock in the morning. He should've been asleep, watching dream number nine. Instead, he was in the living room, sitting on his favourite couch cross-legged, eating breakfast, watching the front door.

That was how Saitou found the little shit. It seemed Okita had been waiting for him, if his grin was any indication. It just aggravated him though. Saitou glared at his friend, blowing air out his nose to cover up his embarrassment. He felt like an idiot for trying to sneak back into his own apartment.

"Good morning Saitou!" Okita was in a good mood.

"…" Was all Saitou said in return, not even wishing him a good morning. Instead he went straight for the coffee.

Okita stood, toast in hand, and followed after him like a puppy. As he got closer and closer to his friend he noticed something, so Okita sniffed; but as he stood next to Saitou he inhaled deeply and Saitou's shoulders stiffened.

Ah, no.

"Saitou…you smell like Tokio-chan" another whiff "a lot! As if you—AH! Can it be?" His smile became mischievous. "You two had **sex**!"

The look he gave Okita when he turned was carefully void of emotion. "I spent the night at her apartment; it's only logical I smell like her."

Okita wiggled his eyebrows and hummed amused, smirk wide as ever. "Not like this. You'd have to be wearing her clothes the entire night for that to happen and I can safely say, you don't fit in her clothes."

Despite Saitou's poker face, he couldn't quite keep the light blush that rose to his cheeks, but it was gone so quickly one would have believed they imagined it.

Okita wished he had camera on hand because this was a moment he didn't want to forget. "So…!" He elbowed Saitou repeatedly until he finally cracked a tiny smile. "Tell me, how was it, the first time? Was it good?"

Saitou's famous glare made an appearance but it didn't deter him one bit. "Tell me! Did it live up to your fantasies? Was it better? Come on tell me." Okita whined.

Saitou took a sip of his coffee to hide his self-satisfied smile. Once he had some, he said, "I don't kiss and tell."

Okita studied his friend's face before slapping him on the back causing Saitou to choke on his coffee. "AW! So it **did** happen, I was right!" Okita laughed heartily. "Oh my dear ancient spirits, it happened! I am so proud! Always proper Saitou is in love with the wrong woman."

Saitou sighed; he just had to remind him. "Did you have to say that?"

"I'm sorry, I just like messing with you," he admitted, waving him off. "But see? I was right to send you over there last night!"

"Since you brought that up—"

"So how did it happen? Both Tokio-chan and you are always so proper; how did you end up in the sack?"

"—what gives you the right to interfere like that?"

"Oh shut up; I obviously did you a favour. You're so in love with her you can't keep a straight face anymore. I simply helped you see that she feels the same. Meaning, I brought you two together. What's better than bringing two people, who love each other, together?"

"…you had no right."

"Details. Details. Who cares! You two hooked up and that's all that matters."

"Okita."

"Alright, that was a little crude, sorry. I know she's not a one-time thing…even though she should be, seeing you are engaged."

"Again, do you really have to say that?"

"Well, it's the truth; so anyway, how did it happen? Don't tell me you promised her you'd leave Yaso for her…!"

"She knows that can't happen."

"Oh? Are you such a smooth talker you talked her into it anyway?"

There was a glare and Okita laughed; slowly though Okita's mirth was stripped away and he was left with a solemn look on his face, he gave Saitou a piercing look. "…if you could choose to be with only one of them for the rest of your life who would it be; Yaso or Tokio?"

"My choice?"

"Yeah; unaffected by the clan, your race, your past…wouldn't it be Tokio?"

Saitou didn't even have to think about, "Without a doubt."

"Then I have no regrets."

"You should," Saitou snubbed, shaking his head. Little did Saitou know, Okita's line was not directed at what he "did" to him last night, but what he was about to do today, when Saitou would be at work and he was off.

"So how _did it_ happen?"

"You're not getting any dirt from me." Saitou stated as he walked over to their table and sat down with his coffee.

"I don't want the sordid details," he defended himself, taking the seat across from Saitou, "I'm just curious how on earth it happened. Like I said, you're both so proper."

"…after all was said between us, she asked me to stay for tea and I did." Saitou shrugged, indicating that was all Okita was going to get out of him.

"So…it just happened." Okita sighed, placing his chin in his hand. "I'm so jealous of you, you found the one! Yeah, it's complicated, but you found her. What about me?"

"Maybe if you stopped fooling around." Saitou raised his eyebrow, smirking slightly.

 _Not even denying it huh?_ Okita knew he was right after all. "They do say that you find what you're looking for when you stop looking."

"There you go. Now let me drink my coffee in peace."

"Sir yes sir!" Okita saluted.

.

.

.

That was three days ago. Three days before everything became too real for Tokio.

Standing over her sink, brushing her teeth…well, she had the toothbrush to her teeth but there was very little brushing going on. Instead Tokio's mind was on other matters. One matter really, or better said one person; actually it was just one memory. To her shame, Tokio could not stop replaying that night in her mind's eye. Her only saving grace was that she had not actually had a chance to see Saitou at work since. She didn't even want to imagine the kind of fool she would play if she saw him. The memory alone made her blush. Imagine if she had to talk to him.

That night was a mistake, one that couldn't be repeated. She wasn't exactly sure how it happened even! She sighed. It didn't matter how, it happened. And she just couldn't stop replaying that night, how it felt to be in his arms; those arms…! Tokio shook her head violently and slapped her herself for good measure.

" _No. Stop that_ ," she scolded herself. No matter how right it felt, it was wrong.

Placing her hands on each side of the sink, she took a good looked at herself in the mirror. "Takagi Tokio, get a hold of yourself! This isn't what you want."

Banging on the door drew her out of her thoughts, and she glanced at the clock; she still had an hour and half before work. Who could it be this early?

.

Yaso was furious. She had no idea how she had lost control or how things had turned out this way. She was humiliated! Her fiancé's preference for the other woman was hard to swallow, one not even a were, too…! But no. She would not lose control.

Taking a deep breath, Yaso raised her fist to bang on the door once more, when it swung open, only to reveal a surprised Tokio, yet the startled and surprised expression only served to piss Yaso off more.

Of course, she was the last person Tokio expected to find on her doorstep, and after her last encounter with the woman, Tokio wasn't feeling particularly inviting. That and the simple fact that she had slept with Yaso's fiancé, and the reminder of that night coupled with Yaso's presence just highlighted the wrong Saitou and Tokio had done.

"Well?" Yaso practically snarled. "Are you going to invite me in or do you want all your neighbours to hear what I have to say?"

Tokio squared her shoulders under Yaso's glare and then moved out of the way to let her in. Against her better judgment and with forced politeness she said, "Please come inside." As Yaso walked in, Tokio steeled herself for the onslaught she knew was coming.

And as soon as the door shut behind them, Yaso whirled on her, fury evident in her eyes. "How dare you! You little home wrecker," she snarled.

Tokio didn't have anything to say in response, and honestly what could she say? She was guilty so she bit her lip. To that, Yaso was dumbfounded; this was worse what she was expecting! "You won't even deny it?!"

"What do you want me to say? Nothing'll make it better."

That surprised Yaso. She expected Tokio to cry and beg forgiveness or even to call her names, but not this. It felt like Tokio was giving up, throwing in the towel and the way she crossed her arms, unconsciously comforting herself, only served to highlight her position.

"At least-!"

"Look," she started not looking at Yaso "Saitou was unhappy and I can't imagine you were happy either. I know it isn't right but you can't tell me what you had was good."

"What do you know about it? I could have—I would have _made_ him someone! He could have been an alpha in ten years flat, had he stayed with me."

And suddenly Tokio no longer felt cornered, embarrassed, or ashamed. She was angry. Tokio couldn't believe this woman. "Did you ever think about what he wanted?"

Yaso huffed. "And that's you? Please. He'll never love you. And do you really think you could be with a Were? You're simply human."

Tokio raised her head. "That doesn't seem to bother _him_."

Yaso smirked. "He's using you. He knows the clan will never approve." Knowing she had struck a chord, she pushed past Tokio, aiming for the exit. But not before turning and throwing a final shot, "Saitou will **never** abandon the clan. You ruined everything…him more than anyone."

The grand finale had served its purpose; Tokio just stood there, staring at the closed door as the fleeing woman's words rang through her head. Had she been as selfish as Yaso?

Yaso, who was too busy fuming and mentally attacking Tokio to notice Saitou. But he was there and actually grabbed her as she walked by and pulled her back. Yaso whirled around ready to strike only to come face to face with him, her surprise quickly replaced by anger and resentment.

He simply arched an eyebrow in the face of her anger.

"What are you doing here?" Despite his façade of indifference he was quite worried about what this meant. Why was Yaso leaving Tokio's apartment building?

She sniffed and tilted her head back in challenge. "The real question is what are _you_ doing here?"

 _Damn it_ ; he shrugged though, in an effort to cover it up. "Checking up on a co-worker."

"Aren't you attentive." Yaso snarled, pulling on her arm. "Is that why you ran to her the other night? Worry?"

Saitou's shoulders stiffened and there was a nagging feeling that smelled awfully of guilt. But instead of affirming or denying anything he repeated his question. "What are you doing here?"

Yaso knew he knew that she knew. She also knew he was unwilling to get into an argument out in public. And that just angered her even more! But he'd pay for it.

"I wanted to see the other woman. The one you seem determined to do _without_."

In that instant Yaso saw pure rage flash in Saitou's eyes. In all the years they had been together he had never been angry with her, despite everything she had done…but now it happened and oh how she loved to push his buttons.

"Yaso what did you say to her?"

Even if he asked, he didn't really want to think about what she could have said to Tokio. He was a little worried how Tokio would handle it; what they did was wrong but no one should have to face an angry Yaso alone.

But his protectiveness oozed out of him and his fiancé could actually pinpoint the moment she realised she cared; she did care because more than just her pride felt wounded, as it became more than obvious to her that Saitou had never warmed up to her. All these years and he never felt closer to her. So to cover the hurt Yaso slapped Saitou as hard as she could and all else be damned.

"You just threw everything away, didn't you? Just for one night." Just for one woman, her mind supplemented, but tried to shut it down. Because that woman wasn't her and suddenly she felt like maybe she was the one that had some sort of problem. But she shook her head, determined to have the last word. "I would have made you into someone."

Saitou fought the urge to rub his cheek and shrugged. "I already am though. Me."

She swell up with her rage and hurt and almost let it all out…! But she refrained. Something inside her stopped her. Maybe he was right. He was someone; someone she couldn't accept and needed changing. Her self-confidence plummeted even more, realising that maybe, just maybe, it wasn't Tokio looks or the lure of the forbidden fruit that attracted him to her, but something unthinkable: their compatibility. Something they never had. Deflating like a balloon, she "humphed" him and turned about.

Saitou watched Yaso storm off bewildered. He had seen the hurt in her eyes, too and with that the nagging feeling of guilt grew but he pushed on and hurried up the stairs for his original purpose and knocked on a certain someone's door.

And just as Tokio had just successfully put Yaso's visit out of her mind, someone knocked at her door. _Great,_ she thought, _she's come back and she's really going to let me have it._

She squared her shoulders and as she opened the door she said, "Look, there's nothing more to be said –" Tokio blinked at Saitou and coloured slightly. Suddenly her throat felt dry. "It's you."

"So she was here." Saitou looked down at Tokio, worry evident.

"She was." sighing, she allowed herself to sag against the doorframe. "What I said earlier still applies though. There's nothing more to say." Tokio was tired and she didn't want to have this conversation right now. Saitou however didn't seem inclined to let it drop.

"There's plenty to be said." And then with uncharacteristic gentleness, "Tokio, let me in."

She bit her lip and it took everything in her to say and do the following.

"No." Then crossing her arms, almost hugging herself, but her voice was clear and strong, she continued. "What happened was wrong. We hurt her Saitou, and I don't want to get in between you and your clan."

The use of his surname hurt and despite knowing that she had a point, Saitou didn't want it to be like this. "Tokio –"

She looked up and he could see the effort she made to keep her emotions in check. "No." and then gently, "I am sorry." With a soft smile she said, "I don't regret it." and the entrance was closed.

Saitou stared at the wooden thing for a long time and his heart lurched painfully. Not only because she had denied him but also because he could hear cry behind the closed door, alone.

.

.

.

Three men were seated on the tatami mats inside the Alpha's home, two facing one, the guest: Kondo, the Alpha, and his right hand man – Hijikata – on his left, were sitting in seiza opposite Okita, also in seiza. There was tea in front of them, brewed by Hijikata himself and colourful tea snacks, half of them already eaten. The room was big, an all-Japanese, traditional one, with painted rice paper and wood works as far as the eye could see. The paint depicted mainly wolves but there were some other regal-looking mythical animals, representing the ancient spirits the werewolves believed in since olden times.

The religion was all but forgotten by the masses though, not only because modern times commanded them to lose their spirituality, but also because the less wars they fought in, the less they needed them and their shamans – or spirit masters, as they were called. In fact, if it weren't for the few and low in numbers spirit master tribes, very few and far in between actually, the practise would have all but died out. Yet these past fifty years, the belief was rekindled due to the hardships the werewolves had to endure ever since coming out in public about their existence, with the help of the aforementioned, spirit masters and of course the remaining lore masters.

Okita wasn't all that religious honestly, but he still found the depictions of these ancient spirits to be exceedingly beautiful. The vibrant colours and the scenes of blessing or hunt were also exceptionally detailed. The artist who drew them must have been a skilful one, even if his name was now lost to time, seeing this house was built hundreds of years ago, and was simply maintained by each generation.

After a long, almost ceremonial sip, Kondo put his cup down and turned to look at his guest. "We are alone here and Yaso is being entertained at the other side of the compound by the women, instructed by me to be kept busy and away from us for the duration of your visit. So, Okita, care to inform us why you requested this meeting and these conditions?"

"Though we do have an inkling," Hijikata commented, uncharacteristically.

Okita's smile was involuntary. "I know it's rare of me to visit you here and make such requests but this time, it was necessary. You see, I have a proposal I would like to discuss with you and some facts to establish." The two listeners nodded. "At first, I would like to inform you that Yaso is making my friend miserable."

Kondo looked away, a mixture of indignation and guilt; Hijikata kept looking at him with the same expressionless face. "Concerning Yaso, I would also like to inform you she came to our place of business and verbally assaulted our co-worker Tokio, accusing her of sleeping with Saitou."

That was news to both men; they shared a glance that said it all. Okita fought the urge to smirk.

"I think it's important to tell you, at this point in time, that Tokio is a very smart and ethical woman who would never just sleep with someone who's engaged. And you know Saitou, he would never do that."

They nodded in the affirmative. "That being said, should know…Saitou has been in love with Tokio for the last three years." Kondo chocked on air; Hijikata raised both eyebrows. "And I think she likes him back, she definitely has feelings for him."

Clearly at a loss, both men seemed to be thinking of the same thing, and somehow knew where Okita was going; the man could feel their defensiveness begin to rise.

"Of course, Saitou being Saitou he never pursued it, he has far too much respect for our customs and decided even if he had to be miserable, he'd stay faithful to Yaso…but he is miserable. I can see it. And Yaso," he scoffed "she does nothing to help—on the contrary, she's making it worse, doesn't care, and tries to impose herself on him. They just don't match, you know?"

Hijikata knew; Kondo knew, too but he looked even guiltier now yet unwilling to change his mind. "So I was thinking…what if we allowed Saitou to do what he wants and just make his engagement to Yaso disappear? What if we just cancelled the whole thing? And what if…you gave him permission to marry Tokio, if he so desires?"

"Okita you know that's forbidden!" Surprisingly it was Hijikata who protested.

"Forbidden is a strong word; it's discouraged."

"It's taboo and you know it!" Kondo snapped. "Even if I were willing to dissolve the engagement which I'm not completely, I could not allow him to marry a human!"

Okita seemed to be getting upset, as if they were blind for not seeing the compatibility. "Don't give me that look, you know it isn't for our good; it's for the human, especially because she's a woman." The alpha continued in the same serious tone. "A human man and a werewolf woman is more acceptable— but a human woman could die in childbirth, you know the risks. Plus, it's always a fifty-fifty chance for the child to be born a werewolf. We need more werewolves."

"Yes but they've been engaged for ten years and they haven't even had sex; if they get married they'll have, what, one kid? Max! But on the other hand, if he married Tokio, they would have many of them; say, they have four. At least _one of them_ will be a werewolf. Same thing, but without the cost of my best friend's misery."

"Okita, it's extremely dangerous for Tokio to even have one pregnancy, you think she'd go through that again—and again? I don't think so—I don't think Saitou would let her. I don't think I would even recommend it. This is why romantic relationships between werewolves and humans are difficult. Please understand. We don't dislike Tokio nor do we want Saitou to be unhappy; we are simply looking out for their best interests. We can't allow it to happen."

"Well," Okita with some arrogance said, "it sort of already did." They stared, asking for more. "The uh, romance part." Now they were starting to get angry. "I sort of lied to Saitou and guided him to her house in the middle of the night and…you know how those instincts are. They just take over."

"OKITA!"

"But it's a good thing!" They fumed, ready to stand up. "No, no, listen; it's a very good thing! I know I played dirty but…what other proof do you need Yaso and Saitou don't go together?"

"That's very different than giving our blessings to a whole other union."

"But hear me out. Saitou himself confided in me, saying if he was never engaged to Yaso and there were no rules against it from the clan, he would have married Tokio in a heartbeat."

"Ah, see? Saitou understands the concept of **rules**." Kondo snubbed irritated.

"Yes, but…if they are willing to accept the risks, Tokio most importantly, should we really get in the way? They'll definitely have more offspring, so the clan will be satisfied in that respect, they'll be happy, Yaso can move on to a better project or whatever she does and, most importantly…Tokio is a scientist. If words gets out a human scientist married a werewolf without any fear of contagion and all the rest ridiculous rumours going about, wouldn't that make the best campaign for our future equality motion?"

Kondo was flabbergasted; Hijikata wasn't. He was actually considering this. They could see it in the way his eyes had become smaller and his lip puckered slightly. They could tell because he stopped protesting and Kondo was now left alone to look between the two men as if he was the only sane person left.

"We could reveal his name later, so that they see we could easily and successfully uphold the law and be objective towards our own kind, too; Saitou is literally lauded within your police station for capturing the most dangerous werewolf-perpetrators." Okita nodded repeatedly. "And as you said, the fact she is a woman of science helps us greatly. They could be the poster couple of our campaign."

"Yep! The gloom and his ray of sunshine! It'll steal people's hearts in a second."

"But…but…what about the engagement to-…"

"You only worry about that because it was Tae's decision," Hijikata snubbed, and he wasn't even thinking; he simply said what he knew. "If we call Tae here and she's okay with ending the engagement, will you give your permission to Saitou to marry Tokio?"

"…I'll think about it." He said in the end, with all the dignity he had left.

"Good, let's call her."

Ten minutes later, there was the Alpha Female of the clan, in all of her cranky glory, facing three silent men. She was pregnant to child number five and she was even more temperamental than usual. Saitou had said she tempered Kondo down, but he never mentioned she did it by being louder than him, thus forcing him to be the logical one.

And there was darkness in her face that night. "You woke me up from my nap just to come look at your faces?"

The fear in her husband's eyes was evident. "N-no honey, not at all; we have a question to ask you."

Okita, ever the diplomat, took charge. "I was wondering just how attached you felt to the idea of Yaso marrying Saitou? We were thinking it's long overdue they went their separate ways."

"Huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuh? What do you mean? Didn't that engagement end like nine years ago?"

Everyone looked at her puzzled. "What are you talking about honey? No, we sponsored their-!"

"But they never even kissed! Yaso told me and I advised her to leave him. She didn't?"

Hijikata could feel his entire being prickling with anger and indignation. "…did you tell her formally?"

"Yes." All three men stared wide eyed, mouths hanging. "So you woke me up just for this!? I'm tired enough as it is. Tch, men, can't even make such a simple decision on their own…you need me to hold your hand through everything? Next time you'll ask me if you should breathe!" she kept saying as she was making her exit, equally indignant and angry.

"You mean to tell me all these years Saitou didn't have to be engaged to that entitled monster? And Yaso said nothing!?"

"Okita; think about what you're doing."

Hijikata's voice sounded distant to Okita's ears, so, surprised, he tried to focus on him. Odd though, Hijikata even appeared to be far away. Yet the more Okita focused, the more Hijikata's image came closer…only then did he realise he was about to transform. He had lost focus because his wolf was going crazy. Huh; it was almost full moon after all. But that would have been a first! Who knew that's how it felt? Distantly, he admired Saitou. That man had been through far worse, objectively, yet he had only transformed twice in his life. Wow.

"Anyway, is Saitou free now? To do as he wants?"

"He is," Kondo said, still in shock "but don't tell him; we'll tell all three of them when the time comes. We'll call for a meeting soon enough."

Hijikata stepped in. "I think it's for the best if we inform Yaso first, alone, and then Saitou and Tokio together; if she verbally attacked Tokio for thinking she was trying to steal Saitou, I'd hate to see what she'd do if she finds _this_ out."

"Agreed!" both the Alpha and Okita opined simultaneously. "So I'm good to go! Thank you very much for listening to me; know that you're making two people very happy!"

Okita then stood, took a bow and left, all the while wearing the widest, and most excited smile they had ever seen. He did love it when his plans worked out after all…

.

.

.

Saitou was confused, not that he'd admit it, and wary. He was seated before his Alpha and Hijikata with no real idea what this was all about. And the fact that Okita kept winking at him, looking awfully proud of himself, made it even more suspicious. Saitou just really wanted to punch his friend's face in. Heck it made for a fun fantasy. He could see the horror on Kondo's face and the slight approval from Hijikata.

But before Saitou could finish off his daydream or let his impatience get the best of him or worse, actually follow through with his impulse to hit Okita, someone knocked.

Okita jumped and said "I'll get it!" in a sing song voice.

That just made Saitou all the more suspicious. Who else could they be expecting? It was just then that Saitou heard his friend greet the last person he expected.

"Tokio-chan! How good of you to come!"

Saitou's head whipped to the door. What was she doing here? And why would the Alpha want to see her? When she walked into view he looked her up and down. He had not seen her since she had closed the door on him. He knew she had been careful to avoid him at work too. Suddenly it felt like a thirst he didn't even know he had was quenched just like that and he nearly wondered out loud just how much he was longing to see her again.

Tokio smiled a little self-consciously.

"Well I was told to come."

Tokio had been surprised to say the least when Hijikata had called to tell, no, demand, her presence to today's meeting. And after her encounter with Yaso she knew today couldn't bring anything good, so she inhaled, prepared for the scolding she was sure to receive.

Once Tokio had been seated, next to Saitou, Kondo cleared his throat, "Let's get down to it. I am sure you'd like to know why you're here."

Tokio nodded. Okita, in his excitement, attempted to speak but Hijikata raised a hand to silence him. Saitou raised an eyebrow at Okita's obvious impatience; the man was literally squirming.

As much as Kondo enjoyed hanging on to the suspense he knew he had to go on, Okita wouldn't wait much longer. He was liable to intervene and this piece of information he wanted to relay on his own. "It has come to our attention that there's" he paused, considering his words carefully, "something going on between you two."

Tokio's eyes widened and she knew she was bright red. Even as delicately as Kondo put it, there were no two ways about it. They knew. She couldn't look anyone in the eyes, but she didn't need to see Saitou to know he was furious. She could feel it. And Okita knew that if Saitou had his way he'd be a ball of flame. Luckily for him, and for Saitou because really, what would the man do without him, life didn't work that way. He only regretted not having his phone handy to record the moment.

There was only one person who could have given Kondo and Hijikata that information and suddenly the pieces were falling into place for Saitou. Still that didn't mean he had to forgive his friend for putting Tokio through this.

"Okita…" He growled.

Okita gave him a cheeky grin, "Patience my friend."

"Don't preach patience to me, you little –"

Hijikata sighed, this was going nowhere fast. "It doesn't matter. It happened and now we have to deal with it."

"Right." Kondo nodded, thankful for Hijikata's intervention. "We've come to a decision we believe is in the clan's best interest and that's to terminate Yaso and Saitou's engagement." He continued on, secretly relishing the surprise he created. "And that a union between Saitou and Takagi-san could be just what we need –"

Kondo couldn't finish though because suddenly everyone started talking at once.

"Wait. What?"

Tokio couldn't believe her ears. Next to her Saitou was having an equally hard time digesting what was being said. "Just like that, it's over?"

"Because we…" Tokio pointed to herself then Saitou, her eyes wide.

Okita nudged Hijikata with his elbow, "Tell him! Tell him the best part."

"Stop that!" Hijikata snapped at Okita. "Why are you here anyways? No one invited you."

"This is my apartment," as if it weren't obvious "and I wanted to see the fruits of my labour!"

"I knew it. You meddling little piece of—!"

"Hey! You should be thanking me." Then shaking Hijikata's arm, "tell him!" eager to save himself from any revenge Saitou may be plotting.

"Tell me what?"

Kondo who had been trying to be heard over the din, actually he and Tokio had been fighting to be heard, whistled loudly. "That's enough. Quiet down." Then rubbing his nose he gestured for Hijikata to take over.

"Apparently Tae ended the engagement between yourself," he nodded towards Saitou, "and Yaso nine years ago. But you were never informed."

Okita really wished he had a camera right now because the look on Saitou and Tokio's faces were priceless.

"What?" Saitou snarled.

Okita nodded and then a little mischievously, "Yep. Because our dear Yaso was complaining about how you never kissed her."

Tokio smothered a laugh. "I would never have pegged you as a prude Saitou-san." she added, temporarily distracted.

Saitou turned to Tokio and gave her a flat look, "Really? That's what you have to say?"

Tokio rolled her eyes, "What am I supposed to say? Pat you on the back? Congratulate you? This is all a little much."

Saitou let out a long drawn out sigh. "So for all these years…"

All these wasted years; all the time he could have spent flirting with Tokio and expressing his interest like a normal person…the shame he wouldn't have endure or put her through. It felt all too surreal. Yet at the same time, how fortuitous he had such a meddlesome friend who managed to do something so big for him. He was torn between punching and thanking Okita. Just then, Tokio laid a comforting hand on his arm, bringing him out of his thoughts. She couldn't imagine what he was feeling. She was stunned and speechless herself but the impact was severely toned down for her so she managed a smile just for him.

In that moment the chemistry and attraction between them was apparent to all in the room. Kondo, Hijikata, and Okita felt self-conscious to be witnessing such an intimate moment.

The moment was broken however when Tokio said, "I still can't believe you never even kissed her." Okita sniggered, Kondo chuckled, and Hijikata tried to hide a smile. Saitou simply glared at the woman.

"Yes well…it has been a most unfortunate mistake but as Hijikata said earlier we must move forward."

Hijikata nodded in reply to Kondo's statement and said, "Okita has brought your relationship to our attention and we believe it would help our cause greatly."

Kondo once more took his cue, "And so we grant you our blessing. The two of you may marry."

There was silence, only for a moment as everything settled into place. Okita was feeling awfully smug but he had failed to consider one very important element in his plans.

Tokio raised her hand as if she were in school and she didn't speak until Kondo indicated she may. "What are you all talking about?"

Okita blinked, it was obvious wasn't it? "That you and Saitou can get married."

Tokio's eyes widened, "No!" Everyone turned to stare at the woman, surprised. "No. You can't tell me what to do or who to marry –"

"But-" Okita tried to say. Kondo and Hijikata for their part couldn't understand her objection. Wasn't this what she wanted?

Saitou, despite the rejection, seemed to know exactly what she was talking about. "You don't want to marry me."

Tokio turned to face him. "No. I mean, yes." Then shaking her head. "It has nothing to do with you. But I won't be told what to do, no one asked me! _Or_ you. This is how you ended up with Yaso on the first place." It was all too much. To know that her affair with Saitou was known, to find out that his engagement had been a sham, and then to be told to marry him. "You can't tell me you want to marry me."

Saitou looked her straight in the eye. "But I do."

Tokio's eyes widened and her mouth fell open. Without warning she stood up and walked out without saying goodbye.

"Not how I imagined it." Okita admitted. Kondo and Hijikata nodded.

Saitou who had been watching the door turned to his alpha and bowed. "Thank you, now if you'll excuse me."

He stood and walked to the door, however when he opened it Tokio fell back into the apartment with an "oof".

"Comfortable?" Saitou raised an eyebrow at the woman laying between his feet.

Tokio sprang up and dusted herself off. "Hmph!" Was all she said.

Saitou closed the door behind him, effectively blocking out three nosey Weres, and motioned for Tokio to follow him down the hall. Once there, he turned to face Tokio, sticking his hands in his pockets. "Hey."

Tokio blinked. She couldn't believe it. "You just found out you were engaged to a crazy person, that Okita told about us, and that's all you can say? Hey?"

Saitou raised an eyebrow, "What do you want me to say? I already knew Yaso had ulterior motives."

"You should be pissed!"

"I am pissed and believe me Okita will get his but right now that's not my priority."

Tokio shut her mouth, her eyes grew wide, and her heart started racing. Then suddenly she started babbling, "Look. I care about you, I can't deny that and I won't deny that I want to be with you but I don't want to marry you. Not like this! Not because your clan wants us to. This is…"

Tokio suddenly stopped talking. Saitou was grinning and it was irritating her, maybe he didn't want to marry her either and all of a sudden she felt like a fool. "This isn't funny." She said, crossing her arms.

"Ah." He said. Despite the craziness of the day and everything he found out, there was hope. He was finally free to do what he wanted and be with someone he choose. He agreed with Tokio, he didn't want it this way either but he wanted her and having the clan's approval helped. It was all a new beginning and what better place to start then with the relationship he should have had? So he said, "How about dinner? We'll take things slow."

Tokio dropped her arms and stared before smiling. "Ok." It was a day full of surprises. She was glad Saitou understood what she was trying to say.

It would have been a perfect moment if only Okita hadn't stuck his head out and said, "Hey. So what? Are you two going to get married? Have some respect for all my hard work!"

"Oy! You piece of shit!"

"Hey! Respect! If it weren't for me you'd still be engaged to Yaso!"

Tokio shook her head and smiled as Saitou and Okita bickered, knowing that Saitou and Okita were a package deal.

.

.

.

"What are you doing?"

Tokio gave her husband a flat look. "Getting a foot rub?"

"Giving your wife a foot rub?" Okita said at the same time.

Saitou shut the door behind him and glared. "Get your own wife."

Okita pouted. "Your wife is carrying very precious cargo! I am just helping out."

Saitou grumbled under his breath, "You're just a tad too helpful."

Tokio rolled her eyes, "Will you relax. We were only taking a break from unpacking and my feet were aching." Then with a soft smile she stretched her arms out, asking for a hug.

Saitou obliged his very pregnant wife, leaning down to place a kiss on the top of her head as she wrapped her arms around his neck. It had been only three years since they were allowed to be together and they were already on kid number one. And it was going to be a Were, the old women of the clan told them, her belly is too big for not even half a year along.

While Tokio had her arms around her husband's neck, he took a swipe at Okita.

"OUCH!"

"It's your fault for not ducking. Idiot."

"How about you not hit then I wouldn't need to duck?"

"Oy. Behave you two. We're going to have a real baby around in a few months, I don't need to take care of three."

Saitou motioned with his nose, "She's talking about you."

"Psh. I am helpful."

"I work."

"I work, too!"

"Then why weren't you at work today?"

"…I was taking care of your wife. We had unpacking to do." Okita said after a pause.

"Alright, alright. That's enough." Tokio said, shaking her head at them, grabbing onto her husband's arm and using him to pull herself off the couch. "Dinner's just about ready."

Despite everything he said, Saitou was grateful for Okita's help. Half-were, half-human children were practically unheard of and it was uncharted territory for all them—all living werewolves, at least. They would have to leave japan to find some example but then again, werewolves had differences from region to region. The two certainties were that the child would either exhibit full werewolf traits or not, meaning he or she would appear like a complete human or a complete werewolf…but either way, the werewolf gene would be inherited. So even if the child wasn't a fully-fledged were, their offspring might be. But that was far too clinical and vague and it was times like this that it was essential to rely on a friend.

As Saitou and Okita set the table Okita took the opportunity to ask about work. "So? Did you find the perp?"

Saitou snorted, "Perp? Hardly. Idiot's wife wasn't cheating, just taking dance lessons. Apparently she just wanted to relive a movie."

Okita laughed. "Either way, he's a high paying client." Then a little more soberly, "Very different than the cases we had on the police force."

"Ah…however, we do have a promising case coming up."

Once it had come out into the light that Saitou and Okita were Weres they had been forced to quit, not that they hadn't seen it coming. Unwilling to give up their careers and already prepared for the resignation, they had opened up their own private practice! While their skills were wildly recognized, they did get an awful lot of easy cases. Cases where their sensitive senses as Weres were needed; husbands or wives trying to catch a cheating spouse or missing persons. Still, a bulk of their cases were Were related.

Meanwhile Tokio too had left her job only to begin working with a research group that specialised in Weres. What with her union and upcoming pregnancy, she was bound to be more interested in such things.

"Oh?" Okita asked, excitement evident.

Saitou's smirk was deadly as he said "Rogue Were."

Okita mirrored it, licking his lips. "So the hunt begins."

* * *

 **A/N** : Aaaaaaand it's finished! Hope you liked it! Please leave a review on your way out. Go visit Legalronin, too she's awesome.


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